


A Change in the Weather

by paddypads



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-04
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2017-12-13 23:11:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 44,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/829934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paddypads/pseuds/paddypads
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, you've got be grateful for the little things in life. Like being allowed to wear your own jeans to work, oblivious best mates, and really attractive customers. So what if you've had to put university on hold for a year and everybody thinks you've dropped out? Or you haven't actually told anybody you're gay yet? If you're Sirius Black, you can pretty much do what you want. A Marauder's modern-day university AU. Sirius/Remus and James/Lily.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The title is taken from the song A Drop in the Ocean, by Ron Pope. I take no credit for any of the characters mentioned, ect. ect.

Not for the first time, or the last, Sirius was very grateful that his work uniform wasn’t utterly vile. He wore his own jeans, which were black, and tight enough to leave very little to the imagination, and a black shirt. The outfit managed to make him look paler than he really was, which was in itself an achievement, but he was quite sure he pulled it off. And, to his eternal joy, they’d stopped making him tie his hair up. He liked his job in the café. The customers didn’t change much, at least, not on his shifts, and most of them knew him by name. Not that “Sirius Black” was a very easy name to forget.

There was one customer in particular that Sirius liked, although they’d never actually spoken. A friend of the girl who’d worked there, who came in for lunch every Thursday, Lily. Before Lily had quit, she’d taken her lunch break to eat with her friend. It had been the only shift Sirius and Lily had shared. But since Lily had her new job (and James, Sirius’ best friend and flatmate, had stopped ditching classes to come to the café to ogle her) Sirius had taken over all the shifts, while Tom, the owner, had started looking for Lily’s replacement.

And so Sirius happily tended to Lily’s friend, because nobody else came in on Thursday lunchtimes, and tried not to be obvious in checking him out. Just in case James did come back. Or somebody found out.

It wasn’t that Sirius was ashamed of being gay. He quite enjoyed it. But, in light of what had happened the last time someone had found out his secret, he wasn’t telling anybody. Suddenly being homeless had been bad enough, but adding lying to all and sundry about why he’d dropped out of university had been almost too much.

He was distracted from his thoughts by the boy coming in. His name, Sirius was reasonably sure, was Remus Lupin. But the name was such an absurd one, he could definitely have been wrong. Although, it wasn’t any more ridiculous than Sirius Black.

“Good afternoon.” Sirius said, with a smile. “What can I get you?”

“Um,” a pause. “Can I have a steak sandwich? I think that’s what Lily normally gets.” A blush. “Sorry, I’m rambling.”

“You don’t need to apologise.” Sirius laughed. “You do normally have a steak sandwich. And, wow, I’ve just realised how creepy that sounded.”

“Only a little bit. You must be Sirius, right? Lily mentioned you. I’m Remus. Yes, after the Roman myth.” A small, self-depreciating, smile accompanied the words.

“At least you’re not named after a giant fiery ball of gas millions of miles away from the earth.” Sirius shrugged. “My family have a thing for stars.”

“We both have stupid names.” Remus laughed. He had a nice laugh, Sirius thought. And then promptly stopped thinking, because flirting with female customers was one thing, flirting with the male ones was another altogether. Then, he might not be able to bring himself to lose any phone numbers he was given.

“Well, that sandwich will be a few minutes, so can I get you anything else for while you’re waiting?” Sirius asked, bringing himself back to the script.

“Can I have a cup of tea, please?” and, Christ but this bloke was adorable. Asking, like Sirius could refuse.

“Of course. If you’d like to take a seat, I’ll bring it right over.” Another smile from Sirius, and, after paying, Remus went to take a seat, in a squashy armchair in one corner. Sirius took the order for the sandwich to the kitchen, and the tea to Remus.

He spent the whole half-hour Remus was in there trying very hard not to look at him. If he had, he might have noticed that Remus didn’t turn a single page of the book he was reading.

 

* * *

 

 

It wasn’t as though Remus had never noticed Sirius before. He was quite a hard person not to notice. He had a way of drawing attention to him, without meaning to. And he was bloody gorgeous.  They’d never spoken, though. Lily had always had their food ready when he arrived, and although she’d pointed Sirius out to him before, there’d never been any reason for any conversation before then.

He had a very nice voice, Remus thought. The kind of voice that dragged you into conversation, whether you wanted it or not, but made you want it. Remus thought that, if he wanted to, Sirius Black could probably make a person feel like the most important thing in the world, just by talking to them.

And if Remus couldn’t concentrate on his book while he ate his lunch? Well. That certainly had nothing to do with the ridiculously attractive waiter.

He had no more classes that day. He could have gone home for lunch, but Thursday lunchtimes were his treat. He had no lectures on Friday, either, although sometimes seminars were re-scheduled. He did have work, but the old man who ran the little bookshop never minded if he had to miss a shift. He loved working in the bookshop. The money was good, and the shop was nice. It was warm and dry, and the smell of the books was, without a doubt, one of Remus’s favourite things.

If he were honest, Remus just loved books.  Fiction or otherwise, he adored them. He’d chosen English Lit for his degree for that reason. Any excuse to read, any at all, and Remus Lupin was a very happy man. And, although Lily had teasingly called him weird for it all through secondary school and sixth form, he enjoyed analysing books. There was something he liked about being able to explore other people’s emotions and motivations without actually having to talk to them. Although Remus had no strong objections to people, he got nervous in large groups, or talking to strangers. It was all right working at the bookshop.  Conversations with customers always followed nice, neat formulae, they could almost be scripted they were so monotonous.

He couldn’t help but be a little proud of himself for successfully ordering his own lunch. He was normally awful at that sort of thing, and he thought he was perfectly justified in having a spring in his step as he walked back to the flat he shared with Lily.

“You look quite pleased with yourself, dear.” She said, almost as soon as he was through the door.

“Do I?” Remus attempted an airy tone. “I can’t think why that would be.”

“Did Sirius give you his number?” Lily asked, with a smirk.

“No! And I thought you said he was straight?”

“I said he flirts with the female customers. Anyway, sometimes, I wouldn’t be surprised. I’ve seen his flatmate.”  The words were accompanied by a laugh. “But then, maybe not. The bloke’s a right arsehole. And he keeps asking for my number.”

“Oh Lily, you poor thing.” Remus laughed too, flopping down on the sofa next to her. “Attractive men chasing you around. What I wouldn’t give for that.”

“Well, you can have this one. James Potter, he’s called. And he thinks he’s all that because he’s captain of the rugby team, and he’s in talks with some rugby club or other who want to sign him up when he finishes uni.”

“Not,” Remus smirked, “that you were paying any attention to him. Isn’t he that guy from the café?”

“That’s the one. Still following me about, apparently.” Lily blushed. “He’s kind of cute. But he’s a self-obsessed arse and there’s no way in hell I’m giving him my number until he grows up a little bit.”

“You and your standards.” Remus grinned. “No, you ignore him. Have you tried slapping him?”

Lily laughed, but didn’t reply.

 

* * *

 

 

“Sirius, my good man, I have news.” These words were accompanied by James wrenching open their front door. “I am in love.”

“Of course you are.” Sirius said. “Who’d you shag?”

“You’re so crude.” James whacked Sirius around the back of the head, and was rewarded with a yelp of protest, and a hastily thrown cushion, which knocked his glasses slightly askew. “I haven’t shagged her yet.”

“Oh, so it is a girl. I was wondering how many revelations I’d get in a day.” Sirius grinned.

“Piss off.” James said. “Don’t you want to know her name?”

“You’ll tell me whatever I say, so go on, get it over with.” Sirius lit a cigarette, and put his feet up on the coffee table.

“Lily Evans.” James sighed, in the kind of way that only the love-struck can, and collapsed onto the other sofa, in a somewhat undignified sprawl.

“Lily Evans?” Sirius laughed. “She’ll have your balls, mate. I used to work with her. She’s not gonna take your shit.”

“I know you worked with her! That’s where I saw her. She’s got a new job now, though-”

“Did you follow her, James?”

“Maybe a little bit. Not the point. She wouldn’t give me her number, anyway.” James looked genuinely crushed.

“You astonish me.” Sirius rolled his eyes. “Look, mate. When you want someone’s number, you don’t follow them around. How is that you’ve ever gotten laid?”

“You know, mate, sometimes I really don’t know.” James looked forlorn.

“Oh, cheer up.” Sirius rolled his eyes. “Have a beer and a fag. It’ll cheer you up.”

“You know I don’t smoke any more, mate.” James sighed. “Stop tempting me, you… temptress.”

“Pretty sure that’s what you call girls, Potter.” Sirius blew smoke in James’s direction. James coughed pointedly.

“You’re a shit, Sirius Black.” He said, wafting at the air in front of him, as if he was trying to bat the smoke away. “Open a window.”

“But I’m comfortable here.” Sirius smirked. “And it’s not me it bothers.”

“Sometimes, I wonder why I let you live here, you useless bastard. I should throw you out.” James froze as soon as the words left his mouth. “I- shit, mate, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like… that.”

“It’s fine.” Sirius said, with a slightly forced smile. He got up, and opened the window.  “Don’t you have a rugby practise? It’s Thursday.”

“Oh, shit. Yeah.” James jumped to his feet. “I’ll see you later, mate.” He ran into his bedroom, and returned carrying a sports bag. “Want me to pick up a pizza or something on the way home?”

Sirius shook his head. “Nah, I’ll cook something.”

“You’re such a househusband.” James said, and, with a laugh, and left.

 

* * *

 

Sirius didn’t see Remus again for another week. By that time, he had a new co-worker, Peter Pettigrew, who’d taken over half of Lily’s old shifts. He’d got the hang of the job pretty quickly, and they’d worked it out so that he’d take the later lunch, to give him a go at working the till alone.

But if Sirius had Remus’s steak sandwich ready when he arrived, that was just being organised for a loyal customer. Nothing more. Definitely nothing. He had a bacon and sausage sandwich for himself, partly because he’d skipped breakfast, and partly because there was never a bad time for bacon.

“Mind if I join you?” he asked, and his palms were definitely not sweating.

“Not at all.” Remus smiled, and gestured to the chair opposite him. “It’ll be nice to have company.”

Sirius sat down. “Why’d you come, without Lily? If it’s not rude to ask, which I just realised it probably is.”

“It’s not rude.” Remus shrugged. “I dunno, habit? I came here every week last year. And the sandwiches are good.”

“Well, we aim to please.” Sirius grinned. “So, uh, is Lily your girlfriend? Because you might have competition.”

Remus laughed at that. “God, no. I’m, um, I’m gay. Lily’s my best friend, has been forever. I assume you’re talking about the ‘self-obsessed arse’ James Potter?”

“That’d be my flatmate.” Sirius grinned. “James isn’t all that bad, really. Doesn’t charge me rent. But he does make me cook for him.”

“That must be so awful.” Remus laughed again, but not unkindly. “I suppose you have more time than him. Lily mentioned you’d dropped out.”

“I’m taking a break.” Sirius shrugged, immediately on his guard. “Needed a year off, such is the life of an art student.” He hated the lie. He didn’t even know Remus, but there was something about him that made him feel incredibly shitty for lying to him.

“Art? That sounds fun. Although, I find English Lit fun, so you might not want to trust me on that.”

“You seem like a trustworthy sort of bloke, so I’ll take your word for it. And it was pretty fun.” Sirius smiled, and relaxed again.

“It sounds it. I have the artistic talent of a slug trying to draw with a stick.” A pause. “A broken stick, actually. I’m a stick figures, and smiley suns sort of artist.”

Sirius laughed loudly. “We all have our faults. I’m dyslexic. One time, I read a book in just under a month and a half. I was very proud.”

“What book was it?” Remus bit his lip as soon as he’d asked the question, and Sirius couldn’t help but wonder if he were embarrassed. Remus did have an awfully nice mouth, he thought.

“The first one of those Bourne Identity books. James let it to me. It wasn’t half bad, really.” Sirius shrugged. “He decided I needed some manlier reading material, because the classics are 'girly'.”

“Ignoring, I see, the fact that they were largely written by men. Except for Pride and Prejudice. That’s a brilliant book.” Remus’s eyes lit up as he spoke, and Sirius thought there was something kind of adorable about his excitement. Which was probably an odd thought, seeing as Remus had a good four inches on him in height, and probably more.

“It really is.” Sirius nodded, internally cursing his shortness. “Elizabeth was pretty badass.”

“Yes,” Remus laughed again. “Yes, she was.”

“Anyway.” Sirius stood up. “I’m out of lunch break. I ought to get back to work.”

“I’ll see you next week?” Remus looked a little hopeful. But perhaps that was just Sirius's imagination.

Sirius tried very hard not to blush. He wasn’t sure how successful he was. “I’ll see you then.”

He nearly tripped over his shoelaces on his way back to the counter.


	2. Chapter 2

In early October, Sirius found himself woken by James pulling open his curtains. “Lily slapped me.” He said, by way of a greeting. Sirius, who was somewhat preoccupied with hiding under his covers from the unnecessarily bright light, groaned in response.

“What was that, mate?”

Sirius groaned again. “Fuck off.” He managed. “Or be quiet.” His head felt like a cement mixer.

“Oh.” James’s voice was laced with satisfaction and false surprise. “You’re hungover.”

“Well bloody done.” Sirius pulled the covers further up over his head. “Leave me here to die.”

“I’ll get you a paracetamol.”

Half an hour later, Sirius had limped his way out of bed and into the sitting room. The curtains were shut, at his insistence, and James was sitting on the other sofa, smirking.  “Good night, then?” he asked.

Sirius grunted in response. “Yeah.” His head was still pounding. “I got laid.”

“You look like you got in a fight. You have a limp.”

Hungover as he was, Sirius still had the capacity to be impressed by how wonderfully oblivious James could be at times.

“Yeah. That’s what happened.” He nodded slowly. “Can you be quieter? Please? Just until my head stops breaking.”

“How much did you drink?” James asked, with a laugh.

“Far, far too much.” Sirius sighed, and gave up on any hope of silence. “I went to the Hog’s Head.”

“Of course you did. I don’t get why you go there.”

“It’s cheap.” Sirius shrugged. “Do I need a better reason?”

“It’s the dodgiest pub in the city. And it smells like piss.” James fixed Sirius with a disparaging look.

“You’re just posh.” Sirius shrugged.

“Like you’re not. You can forget to enunciate properly all you like, but you were nearly a lord, once.”

“I was disinherited. And I never payed attention in etiquette lessons anyhow. I was shit at being an aristocrat.” He smiled, although slightly grudgingly. His head was starting to hurt less. God, he loved painkillers.

“You were born to be an artist and live in a shitty flat above a baker’s somewhere in Paris and ride a motorbike, I’m sure.” James rolled his eyes fondly.

“Well, I have the motorbike.” Sirius shrugged. “Now. You say you were slapped? What time is it? What day is it?”

“It’s Saturday, just gone two in the afternoon, so you’ve slept for fucking ages, you lazy prick. And I was slapped last night.”  James ticked off the points on his fingers as he spoke.

“What did you do? Did you try and feel her up? Please tell me you didn’t feel her up.” He groaned, half expecting the worst.

“Of course I didn’t! I’m not a prick. No, I gave her _my_ number, she called me a pretentious arse, slapped me and stormed off.” A forlorn sigh. “What am I doing wrong?”

“Well.” Sirius began, after a moment’s thought. “Her flatmate, the one who comes to the café, Remus, he said that she told him she thinks you’re up yourself.”

“What?” James hissed indignantly. “Why?”

“Because you keep talking about how great you are, or some shit.” A shrug. “I can imagine, it’s fucking annoying.”

“Hey, Sirius?” James said. And oh, Sirius knew that voice. It tended to mean that he was about to agree to do something utterly absurd that would almost certainly end in the both of them getting in trouble.

“Go on.” He said, with a long-suffering sigh.

“Will you talk to this friend of Lily’s? See if he can find out what I can do differently-” James cut himself off, with a horrified expression. “ _What if she’s dating him?!_ ”

Sirius took a moment to appreciate how worried James sounded, and to laugh so hard he spilled water down his front.

James threw a cushion at him. “Oi! This is serious stuff. What the hell are you laughing at?”

“He’s gay, mate.” Sirius took off his wet shirt and threw it at James. “But yeah, sure, I’ll talk to Remus.” he chose not to mention the fact that he’d been doing that every Thursday for weeks anyway.

“Cheers. Now go and have a shower, you smell like cheep booze, and I swear you have work later.”

“Can’t I call in sick?”

“No, you lazy shit. Go on. You smell terrible. I can drive you if you need me to?”

“What’s the point in having a motorbike if you drive me everywhere? No, I’ll get up and drive myself.” He got to his feet. “Thanks for the offer, though.”

“Not a problem. Shower. Go. Now, because mate you smell fucking awful.” James grinned, and Sirius half-heartedly threw the cushion back at him, and went to have his showers.

 

* * *

 

If Thursday was fast becoming Remus’s favourite day of the week then that was nobody’s business but his own. And if he thought Sirius was astonishingly attractive, that was also his business. He did his best to be subtle about it, but Sirius had a habit of wearing what had to be the tightest jeans Remus had ever seen in his life, and they hid nothing. It was hard not to look, although he did his best.

So, when Sirius sat down next to him, with a smile and their lunches, Remus smiled back. He definitely didn’t fancy him, not at all. Not even on an aesthetic level.

“Have you had a good week, then?” Sirius asked, passing Remus his sandwich.

“Yeah, it’s been good.”  He nodded. “I swear, over the summer I’d forgotten just how much work I actually get, though. I’m swamped.”

“That sucks.” A sympathetic shrug. “You should go out some time. Just relax and stuff.”

“I would, except I always go out with Lily, and her friends. And they keep trying to set me up with guys at bars, or girls, which is worse. I’m no good at chatting people up, or flirting or whatever.”

“So come out with me and James sometime.” A slightly embarrassed pause. “If you want, I mean. I’m not going to drag you to a pub, that’d be weird.”

“No, no, that’d be good. It’d be great.” Remus nodded. “If that’s alright with James, obviously.”

“Oh, he’ll be fine with it. He wants to pester you to find out what Lily thinks of him, anyway.” Another, less awkward pause. “Well, I think he wanted me to do that. I don’t know, I make a habit of ignoring him when he’s talking about girls.”

“Well, I hear you’re not really one for talking to girls.” Remus grinned, but, to his confusion, Sirius looked defensive, rather than amused or offended.

“What was that?” he asked, his tone guarded.

“Oh, uh, Lily always says that you’re a bit of a womaniser. Well, actually the term she prefers is player, but there we go.” Remus took a deep breath, and stopped himself before he started to ramble.

Sirius laughed loudly. He had a nice laugh, Remus though. Warm, and genuine, and perhaps slightly reminiscent of a dog’s bark. “Oh, I’m with you now. I’m not as bad as she says, honest. Don’t believe her. James, on the other hand…”

“Maybe you should only tell me wonderful things about him so that’s all I can tell Lily?” Remus grinned. “Or would that be unfair?”

“It’d be fair. From what I gather she thinks he’s the scum of the earth. He’s a great bloke, really. Best mate anyone could ask for, loyal to a fault. All that cliché shit.” A shrug. Sirius shrugged quite gracefully, Remus thought. And then he stopped thinking, because he wasn’t going there. Sirius was straight, and the last thing he wanted was a crush on a straight man, particularly one who was well on his way to becoming a good friend.

“She just thinks he’s a bit self obsessed.” He said, after a moment’s thought. “From what she says he only ever talks about himself.”

“That sounds like him. He’s an only child, and he does love being the centre of attention. He’s great, though. I’ll pass that on, though. I have a sacred duty as a wingman.” Another graceful shrug.

“I’m sure he’s not as bad as Lils says, but I warn you, once she’s made her mind up about somebody, it’s hard to change it.”

“Believe me,” Sirius smirked. “If anybody is willing to keep going until he’s succeeded, it’s James Potter.”

 

* * *

 

“Self obsessed? She really thinks I’m self obsessed?” James managed to look furiously indignant for all of three seconds before he deflated slightly. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Remus said you might want to try not talking about yourself. I’ve met the broad, and trust me, she’s smarter than the birds you usually go for.” Sirius inspected his nails idly.

“Whereas your taste in women is impeccable, I’m sure.” James rolled his eyes. “Get me a beer, will you?”

“First you insult a bloke, and then you demand he get you a drink. No wonder you can’t get laid.” Sirius passed him a beer, and, after a brief hesitation, got one for himself.

“Because you, of course, know all about picking up blokes.”

Sirius choked on his beer. “ _What?_ ” he spluttered, hoping he didn’t sound as terrified as he felt. James couldn’t know. He’d been hit on the head playing rugby far too many times to have worked it out for himself.

“Relax, Black, I went to school with you, I know how much of a womaniser you are.”

“Hey, I resent the implication of misogyny there.”

“Oh, sure, because you’re the epitome of chivalry.” James rolled his eyes.

“At least _I_ don’t pester girls for months until they agree to shag me.”

“Mate, you don’t even need to know a girl’s name before you go home with her.”

“Before I take her to a cheap hotel, come on, mate, you know me better than that. Taking her home implies a level of commitment I’m simply not ready for. Sometimes, if I really like them, I go back to their house.” Sirius grinned. He hated the lie. He didn’t want to be like that. But then, if he couldn’t bring home the people he wanted to, it was better not to bring anybody home at all.

“And yet you say you’re not a romantic?” James laughed. “One day, you’ll meet someone and you’ll fall for them, and then you’ll be royally fucked.”

Sirius said nothing. He was too busy telling himself that it was coincidence that his mind had immediately jumped to Remus. He was Sirius Black. He didn’t get crushes.

 

* * *

 

“You seem awfully excited about going for lunch, Remus.” Lily smiled knowingly. “Is there, perhaps, something else at the café you’re eager to see? A certain ridiculously attractive waiter, maybe?”

Remus willed himself not to blush. “No. Just… the sandwiches are really good.”

“You’re a terrible liar, Lupin.” Lily laughed. “Just admit it, you fancy Sirius.”

“I do not!” Remus did his best to look indignant, before giving up. “Is it that obvious?”

“Only because I know you, dear.” A sigh. “You know he’s straight, don’t you?”

“I know, I know. It isn’t going to go anywhere, I’m well aware of that. Just… let me have a little crush on him for a while. It’ll pass.” He tried not to look too disheartened.

“I know he’s gorgeous, I’m not blind, but really, Remus, you could do a lot better.” Lily fixed him with a serious expression. “He’s dropped out of university. He turns up to work hungover all the time. He’s going nowhere.”

“He’s going nowhere you think is good. That doesn’t mean he’s going nowhere at all.” Remus sighed. “Just let it go, Lily. I know he’s straight. I’m not expecting anything to happen. I’m not in love with him or anything.”

“No, you just want to shag him.” Lily grinned, and Remus blushed furiously.

“Shut up, Lily.” He mumbled.

She only laughed in reply, and hugged him. Slightly grudgingly, he hugged her back, before they parted ways. Lily, to a lecture, and Remus to get his lunch.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a trigger warning for mentions child abuse.

Sirius was sketching. He wasn’t really paying attention to what he was drawing. It was well past midnight, and probably closer to dawn, but he hadn’t slept yet. He’d given up trying hours ago. He’d tried to read, but the words on the page had swum before his eyes, distorting and changing until the letters had lost all meaning. He’d put his book down after that. Drawing relaxed him. He was good at it without needing to really try. It was a comforting feeling, knowing that he was good at something.

Sighing, Sirius looked down at the sketchpad. For a moment, he stared at the drawing. It was half finished, sill mostly rough lines. But even so, it was obvious what it was. He could never have mistaken the curve of the lips, the shape of the eyes. It was Remus. Or, it would be, when it was finished. If it was finished.

He sighed again, and, straightening up, he carried on with the drawing. He concentrated, neatening the lines he’d already drawn, and filling in the rest, shading, so that the portrait looked almost lifelike. For a long while, Sirius simply looked at the picture. He looked, and he thought, and eventually he made a choice.

It was dawn when he put the picture down. He hadn’t slept, and now he knew he wouldn’t. Not when he knew what he needed to do. He had to tell James the truth. He was his best friend, his brother. If he couldn’t tell him, couldn’t trust him, then he couldn’t ever tell anybody.

Not that that made it any easier.

 

The next time Sirius saw Remus, nearly a week later, he hadn’t told James the truth. He’d had chances. He’d nearly said it a half-dozen times. It was, theoretically, very simple. All he had to do was tell James that he was gay. Except, whenever he actually tried to say the words, he’d choke on them. He couldn’t get them out, couldn’t say it aloud. He’d practiced in front of the mirror. He’d made long speeches to coffee cups. He’d even tried writing it down. At one point, in a fit of desperation, he’d considered icing the words “I’m gay” onto a cake, and leaving it for James to find. He hadn’t, though. James would’ve thought it was a joke.

But then, as Remus was animatedly describing the book he’d been lent by one of the girls in his seminar group, Sirius had an idea. He wasn’t alone in this. There were other people, and plenty of them who had been where he was now. And one of them was sitting opposite him. Remus was so beautiful when he talked about his books, or his lessons, or the TV shows he loved. His eyes lit up, and he smiled, and Sirius had never seen anybody look better. He’d never really fancied anybody before, not like this. There had been a period of time, a few years back, when he’d fancied James, but that had passed soon enough. That had been back when he’d done his best to like girls, to please the girl his parents had told him he’d have to marry one day. One of his cousins. She was beautiful, that was true, even he knew that. But she was cruel, too. Bellatrix was the sort of child that pulled the legs off spiders and set butterflies’ wings on fire. As a teenager she’d not been much different. Her cruelty had just taken a more adult turn.

When Remus finished talking, Sirius cleared his throat, a little nervously.

“You alright, Sirius?” Remus looked concerned. “You look like you might throw up.”

“I, uh, I need to ask you something. It’s probably not the sort of thing I should ask but I really need some help.” Sirius rubbed at the back of his neck. He _thought_ he might throw up, let alone how he looked.

“You can ask me anything, Sirius. It’s fine, really. If you need help, then here I am.” Remus smiled reassuringly. “Ask away.”

Sirius took a deep breath, and ran a hand through his hair. “How- how did you come out?”

For a moment, Remus didn’t answer. Surprise, and something Sirius though was happiness passed across his face before his expression settled on thoughtful. “Who do you want to tell?”

“James. He’s- he’s like a brother to me. I want to do it right.” He sighed. “It’s scary, though.”

“I know. There’s nothing wrong with it, though. From what you’ve told me about him, he won’t care. It’s going to be fine. I promise.” Remus put his hand on Sirius’s shoulder. “Just sit him down, give him a beer, and tell him the truth. Don’t apologise for being gay. It’s not like you’ve chosen it. Explain to him, if you feel like you have to, why you didn’t tell him before. But don’t apologise. If you don’t want to make a big deal out of it, just try to slip it into the conversation. That’s how I did it with Lily.”

“I’ve never told anybody before. Not really.” He hadn’t. His little brother had found him, on all fours, with some guy whose name he couldn’t even remember fucking him, while he moaned into a pillow so that nobody would hear. And then Regulus had gone running to their mother, while Sirius got the other man out of the house as fast as he could. His father had beaten him bloody when he found out what his son was. _Degenerate_ , he’d called him. _Disgusting_. And then, while he was still bleeding, with blood drying in his hair, his nose broken, and both his eyes black and swollen, his mother had dragged him down to the cellar, and locked him in. he still had no idea how long he had sat in the dark. He never did, when he was locked in the cellar. All he could do was curl up on the softest bit of floor he could find, as far away from the corner he used as a toilet as possible, and wait to be let out.  When they had let him out, he’d been given a choice. Propose to Bellatrix, and be married within a year, or be disinherited, and thrown out on the streets. He had been given half an hour to make his decision. He’d used it to pack, and, when his time was up, he’d gone to James. He’d had to walk the ten miles across town to his house, and, by the time he’d arrived, it had been three in the morning. Mrs. Potter had put him in one of the guest rooms, cleaned his cuts, and told him he’d be staying with them from then on. And so he had. Even now, he hadn’t done it properly, he’d just hinted. It was a shame that James wasn’t as good as taking a hint as Remus was.

“It’ll be alright.” Remus smiled reassuringly, and, somehow, Sirius believed him. He almost wished that he didn’t, just so that he could have some excuse to back out. He’d started now, though. He might as well finish.

“I really hope so.”  Sirius smiled. “Thanks, Remus.”

“It’s really, really not a problem. Go on. Off you go, do it before you change your mind. And, uh,” Remus paused, and scribbled something on a napkin. “This is my number. Let me know how it goes, or if you need more help.”

Sirius grinned, and put the napkin in his pocket. “Thanks, mate.”

 

* * *

 

 

James was late coming back from his rugby practice that day. Or maybe it was just his nerves that made Sirius think that. It was, he told himself, ridiculous to be this anxious. He’d already started cooking by the time James got home.

“Mm, that smells good. What’re we having?” James dropped his sports bag on the sofa and sat up on the counter next to the cooker.

“I’m gay.” Sirius said, before he could think about it.

James appeared to consider this for a moment. “Okay. What’s for dinner?”

“Risotto. Is that honestly your only question?”

“Yep. I don’t care, mate. You’re my brother. But…” James grinned. “I have to ask, are you dating someone?”

“I don’t do dating.” Sirius rolled his eyes. “You know that.”

“Ah, but you fancy someone! Is it Lily’s flatmate, Remus?”

“Shut up, James.” Sirius whacked him on the arm with a wooden spoon, and hoped that he wasn’t blushing.

 

* * *

 

Remus turned off the shower, and stepped out. It was, he thought, unreasonably cold, even with the steam filling the bathroom. He did his best to dry his hair with the towel, but really, all he managed to do was make it stick up in an impressively varied number of directions. He sighed, and wrapped the towel around his waist. The short walk from bathroom to bedroom was even colder, and his bedroom was barely any better. Either the heating was off, or the boiler had broken. Again.

 

He had just finished getting dressed when he heard his phone vibrate on his desk. For a moment, Remus was confused. He couldn’t think of who might be texting him. Neither of his parents had worked out texting yet, and the only other person who contacted him on a regular basis was Lily, and she was downstairs. Puzzled, he picked up his phone. The text was from an unfamiliar number, which only confused him more, until he read it.

**I told James. He thought it was ridiculous that I thought he’d give a shit. Thanks for your advice earlier, couldn’t have done it without you.**

**Oh, and this is Sirius. I should probably have mentioned that before x**

Remus smiled to himself. It might have been a coincidence, but he didn’t feel quite so cold anymore.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... I finally wrote the thing.

Somehow, since that first text from Sirius, Remus’s phone had been going off near constantly. But, then, he would reply as soon as he could, even in lectures, something he would never have dared to do before. It had been a never-ending source of amusement to Lily, particularly when Remus would stop halfway through something to reply. He was reading, that evening. Although, he was mostly texting. Try as he might, he didn’t think he would ever be able to enjoy reading _The Fairie Queene._

“Is that who I think it is?” Lily asked, with a knowing look, when his phone went off for what had to have been the hundredth time.

“I dunno, I can’t read your mind.” Remus poked his tongue out at her.

“You’re such a child.” She replied, poking out her own tongue. “Is it Sirius?”

“Is what Sirius?” Remus grinned.

“The sofa.” She rolled her eyes. “The person texting you.”

“Well, they’re certainly purporting to be Sirius. I hope they are, we’ve just agreed to go to the pub on Friday.”

“Like a date?”

“Lily, no. It’s not… we’re just friends. It’s nothing like that.”

“Are you sure? Are you very, very sure? Because you’ve gone and had drinks with him every week since he came out.”

Remus sighed. “We go with James. And Sirius doesn’t do dating or relationships, or whatever. And I don’t… well, I don’t do the alternative. So even if he did like me, which he doesn’t, it’s not like anything would happen.”

“You can’t be sure that it won’t.”

“Life isn’t a romance novel, Lils.” He rolled his eyes.

“Well, then life is a tremendous let-down.” Lily bit her lip, and fiddled with a strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail. “Do you think… do you think I could come along?”

“I thought you’d rather die than spend time with James Potter?” Remus tried hard not to laugh.

“Well, maybe I was a little hasty.” A sigh. “I’ve spoken to him a little more, and he’s not so bad. I might have been a bit hasty.”

“Well then.” Remus tried very hard not to smirk. “I’ll ask.”

 

* * *

 

Sirius woke up sweating and shaking. The clock on his dresser told him that it was almost four in the morning. He sighed, and rolled over. There was no chance of more sleep tonight, not with the nightmares, not in an otherwise empty bed. Sirius didn’t want to close his eyes, just in case.

He never let himself remember the nightmares afterwards. He would wake up terrified, shaking, struggling to breathe, and that was enough for him, without thinking about them. He lay in the dark, in his nest of pillows and blankets, because somehow, he was always cold. With a sigh, he reached out for the glass of water on the table by his bed, but in the dark he missed, and knocked it over. It landed on the floor with a loud thump, but mercifully, it didn’t smash. Sirius swore under his breath, and fumbled for the lamp switch, but before he could turn it on, the overhead light clicked on.

“Siri, are you alright?” James spoke quietly, slurring slightly. The noise had evidently woken him up.

“Yeah, just… an accident. I’ll clear it up. Go back to bed, mate.” Sirius ran a hand through his hair, and turned the bedside light on. He thought he might be able to read, or draw for a bit.

“Did you have the nightmares again?” James switched off the overhead light, and moved forward to sit on the bed next to Sirius.

“Yes.” His tone made it perfectly clear that he didn’t want to discuss it further. James simply nodded, and lay down next to him.

“C’mere, then.” He held out his arms, and after a second or two, Sirius turned out the light, and shuffled closer to James, resting his head on his friend’s chest.

“You’re okay, mate. You’re alright. I promise.”

Sirius closed his eyes, and, before too long, he was asleep.

 

* * *

 

 

James never asked about his best friend’s nightmares. He had once; the first time he’d seen it happen, when they were away at school together. Sirius had simply shaken his head, and so James had done the only thing he could, and held him until he got back to sleep. After that, he’d find that about once a week, and more often close to school holidays, he’d wake up to see his tearful best friend. When Sirius had run away from home and moved in with him, he’d ended up sharing James’s bed not long after. It didn’t take a genius to work out what Sirius’ parents had done to him, at least in part. And for that, James would never forgive them. Sirius was his best friend, his brother, and he hated the idea of anybody hurting him. His mother’s reaction to the discovery of her son sharing a bed had been at once both hilarious, and uncomfortable. She’d sat him down and asked him, in her gentlest voice, if there was anything he wanted to tell her. She’d seemed almost disappointed when he’d told her that Sirius wasn’t his boyfriend. James had never taken that as her being disappointed in him, though. He knew his mother well enough to know that she was only disappointed that she couldn’t call Sirius her son.

 

Cooking had never been James’s strong point. He wasn’t bad at it, he just wasn’t good. The most he could manage was a full English, and for that he needed the help of online recipes. Google was a truly wonderful thing. When he’d finished cooking, James put the food onto two plates, picked them both up, and went to knock on Sirius’s door.

“I made breakfast.” He opened the door without waiting for a reply

“If you give me food poisoning again, I’m moving out.” Sirius was lying in bed, his normally perfect hair slightly reminiscent of a fluffy black cloud.

“That was once. Once.” James sat down on the end of Sirius’s bed, and passed him his plate.

“Well, I’m not going to forget it, am I?”

“No, neither am I. You’re a bloody drama queen when you’re ill. Well. More of a drama queen.”

“Fuck you, Potter. If you keep being a dick, I won’t pass on my good news.”

“News, what news? You’re pregnant? You’ve got someone pregnant?”

“That wouldn’t be good news, not in any way. Not at all. I’d be awful. What do you even do with a baby? And how would I be pregnant? No. Don’t answer that, I don’t want to know what goes on in that funny little head of yours. Evans wants to come to the pub.”

_“What?!”_  For a brief moment, James thought he was going mad. Or having a heart attack. Or both. Both worked just fine.

“Evans wants to come to the pub. With us. On Friday.” Sirius rolled his eyes. “It’s not too difficult a concept to grasp, surely?”

“No. Right. Yes. Good. Okay. I’m just going to go and… do something.” And, with the utmost dignity, James ran from the room.

 

* * *

 

Sweaty hands were the worst. The absolute worst. There was nothing less attractive that someone with sweaty hands. It could pretty much kill any romantic inclinations in a heartbeat. Lily wiped her hands on her skirt. It was only James Potter. Stupid James Potter with his stupid hair and his stupid glasses and his stupid rugby and his fantastic arse.

Lily decided to stop that train of thought there.

“You alright, Lils? You look like you might throw up a bit…” Remus frowned, obviously concerned.

“I’m fine.” Much to her irritation, Lily found that her voice was a little higher than usual. Bloody James Potter. She had stopped acting like a rational human because of James Bloody Potter.

To begin with, Lily had wanted to slap him. He teased her about her red hair, about the way she dressed. Not in a cruel way. She’d realised that soon enough. James Potter might have been annoying, and arrogant, but he wasn’t cruel. After a few days, a few chance encounters that Lily suspected James had very carefully orchestrated, the teasing had become almost endearing. Which was a problem, because it was just teasing. Despite what all her friends liked to tell her, James Potter did not fancy her. Boys like him didn’t fancy girls like her. Except in books. And really, Lily was all for books, but she liked being a nurse better. She liked what was definable. She liked having steps and rules to follow. And James Potter definitely did not do rules. He was, as Marlene, one of the girls at work, had put it “unbearably fit”. He was captain of the university rugby team. He was, if Remus was right, incredibly rich. And Lily was definitely not his type.

“You in there, Lily?” Remus waved a hand in front of her eyes. “Thought I’d lost you for a second there.”

“I was just… thinking. Just thinking.” She forced a smile. “Is that them, there?”

Before Remus could reply, James dropped down into the chair opposite her.

“Looking fiery as always, Evans.” He smirked, and ruffled his hair in that ridiculous, irritating, absurdly attractive way. “How about I buy you a drink, love?”

Lily agreed, before she could think it through. Because, well, that was the problem, wasn’t it? Lily Evans might not be his type, but James Potter was definitely hers. Well. Fine then.

She’d just have to change his mind.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took a year. I hit a period in my life where I lost almost all interest in writing anything, and couldn't bring myself to finish this fic. But I am now back, and I'm going to be aiming for updates every one or two weeks.

If James Potter had to find fault with Lily Evans, he’d eventually have settled on the fact that sometimes she tried too hard. Not that James would claim that he himself was innocent of this himself; he knew he had no right to do that, but with Lily it was unnecessary. James could’ve sat with her for hours in perfect silence, and been content. This was not to say that he didn’t want to talk to Lily. He enjoyed doing that very much, she told stories brilliantly well. There had been a particularly memorable one involving a turnip, a chicken, and three of her fellow nursing students. It was just that he had liked her when she tossed her hair and quirked her eyebrows and didn’t take his shit. But something had changed since she’d started coming to the pub with him and Sirius. She’d stopped talking over him, stopped calling him out. She had, in short, become every girlfriend James had ever had. And there was a reason they were his ex-girlfriends. It was time to Do Something.

“Oi, Sirius.” James said, throwing open his best friend’s bedroom door. “Get up. I’ve got an emergency.”

“And I’ve got work in five minutes.” Sirius replied, pausing midway through putting on his bike leathers. “I’m already running late, can’t this wait until I get home?”

“No. It is an emergency,” James folded his arms. “and emergencies cannot typically wait.”

“Well, then this one will have to buck the trend.” Sirius said, zipping up his jacket. “I can’t afford to get fired. Just text me the details later, or something.” And with that, Sirius picked up his keys and helmet, pushed past James, and left.

  

* * *

 

 

“You’re late,” Peter said, by way of a greeting. “Very late.”

“Only ten minutes,” Sirius said, by way of an apology. “I got stuck in traffic.”

“Mm, well, Tom wants to see you in the back.” Peter grimaced. “Hard luck, mate. I hope you don’t get fired.”

Sirius sighed, put on his apron, and made his way to the back room. Theoretically, it was Tom’s office, but it was mostly filled with crates, boxes, and the supply fridge, with a desk squeezed in one corner.

“Sirius,” Tom said, with a sigh. “You’re late again.”

“I- I’m sorry. There was traffic.” A complete lie, he was only late because he’d overslept, he’d missed the traffic altogether. But traffic was a better excuse, and he could not afford to lose this job.

“You’ve been late back from your lunch break a lot lately, too.” Tom continued, as if Sirius hadn’t spoken at all. “I’m sorry, but it’s unacceptable.”

Sirius thought he might be sick. He was going to lose his job, the only source of independent income he had. He would be forced to beg Mrs. Potter for money, and she’d be gracious giving it to him, but it’d still be too much.

“I am putting you on probation.” Tom said.

“Pardon?” the word slipped out before Sirius could stop it. He could only be grateful that it hadn’t been “what.”

“Probation. A period in which, if you carry on being consistently later, you will be fired. Consider it a warning, or a trial period, or something like that.” Tom sighed again. “It’s the best I can offer. I can’t have you continuing to be late.”

“Of course,” Sirius said, too grateful to be annoyed at having to swallow his pride. “It won’t happen again. I’m very sorry.”

 

* * *

 

(11:07am) (From: Jame)

**_oi. u promised me help._ **

(12:08pm) (To: Jame)

**POTTER I AM AT WORK !!**

(12:10pm) (From: Jame)

**_fine. i’ll just tell u the problem_ **

(12:15am) (From: Jame)

**_evans is bein weird?? like rlly weird. shes stopped acting like herself and yelling at me and getting pissed off stuff. what do???_ **

(1:27pm) (To: Jame)

**I will call Remus when I get off work and ask him to talk to her.**

****

* * *

 

 

Remus did not often get phone calls. They were even rarer at three in the afternoon a Sunday. Phone calls were planned things, and usually from his mother. So when, at three fourteen, his phone started merrily buzzing away on the sideboard, Remus was very, very confused.

“Hello?” it hadn’t been intended as a question- his phone told him that it was Sirius calling- but somehow, it’d come out as a query anyway.

“Remus!” Sirius sounded unreasonably pleased. “Just the man I wanted.”

“If you didn’t want to talk to me, it might’ve been a bad idea to phone me.” Remus replied. He also raised an eyebrow, before promptly lowering it again when he realised that there was no point if Sirius wasn’t there to see it.

“That’s an excellent point,” Sirius conceded. “But not, I’m afraid, the point of this call, lovely as it is to hear your voice. You’re being enlisted to help me help James with a crisis. He’s being a drama queen and I can’t cope alone. You are also uniquely qualified to help with this problem.”

“Back up a second.” Remus said. “Did you honestly just call someone else a drama queen? Sirius, two days ago you recited the whole of the to be or not to be soliloquy from Hamlet because you couldn’t decide what you wanted to drink.”

“And I was excellent at it.” Sirius said, as if it were obvious. It was true, he _had_ been marvellous, Remus was more than willing to admit that. “But you’re still missing the point,” Sirius continued, before Remus could venture an opinion on his recitation. “I need your help. James needs your help. Help us.”

Remus sighed. “I’m sure you’re both being melodramatic, but I’ll let it go for now. What do you want me to do?”

“Well, you know Lily, yeah?”

“Do I know my flatmate?” Remus interrupted. “Yes, yes I’d have to say that I do.”

“Don’t interrupt. It’s rude. Anyway, James thinks she’s being weird.”

“Weird how?”

“He wasn’t very specific.” Remus thought he could actually _hear_ Sirius shrugging. “But his main complaint appears to be that she’s stopped arguing with him.”

“You’d think that would be a positive thing.”

“James Potter,” Sirius sighed, “is not a normal human being. He likes a girl who won’t take his shit.”

“I’ll talk to Lily.” Remus said, although he strongly suspected that he would regret it. “But she has a zero-tolerance policy for bullshit, so it might end in my death.”

“Keep me and James out of it, then.”

“I was hoping for something better than that.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll write you a beautiful eulogy.” Sirius promised. “And I’ll buy you a drink.”

“A drink won’t do me much good if I’m dead.” Remus pointed out. “But I appreciate the sentiment anyway.”

“Good man.” A pause. “Anyway, I’ve just gotten off work, and I’ve foolishly promised James a Sunday roast when he’d finished rugby training, which gives me like an hour, so I’d better be getting home.”

“Alright,” Remus said, with a nod Sirius couldn’t see. “I’ll talk to you soon, yeah?”

“Of course. I’ll text you about Wednesday later.” And, before Remus could ask what Wednesday had to do with anything, Sirius had hung up.

 

* * *

 

(4:02pm) (From: Jame)

**_ABORT ABORT DO NOT DO THAT DO NOT ASK HIM TO TALK TO HER !!!_ **

(4:03pm) (To: Jame)

**Too late. I called him like 45 minutes ago?**

(4:05pm) (From: Jame)

**_fuck u black_ **

 

* * *

 

Lily Evans had perfected her death glare at the age of fifteen. She was extremely proud of it. It struck fear into the hearts of school bullies, catcallers, and passing Tory politicians alike. There had only ever been one person upon whom the glare did not work, because he’d been there when the glare had been a pout. But Lily glared anyway, while Remus sat there, eyebrows raised.

“You know,” he said. “If you didn’t think I had a point with this, you wouldn’t be glaring at me.”

“Bugger off, Lupin.” Lily sighed, and gave up on the glare. “I am not being weird about, or around, James Potter.”

“Well, that’s just not true. I didn’t notice until Friday,” a lie, but Lily would never know, “and then I did some more thinking, and you’re definitely being odd.”

“Name one thing that I’ve done that’s been out of the ordinary for me,” Lily challenged, folding her arms. “One thing.”

“On Friday, James said that his team were going to wing their next game against Northampton uni easily, because Northampton play like, and I quote, a bunch of girls. And you said _nothing_.” Remus sat back in his chair, looking uncharacteristically smug.

“I- I didn’t hear.” Lily thought the excuse would’ve sounded more convincing if she hadn’t stuttered.

“Oh?” Remus raised an eyebrow. “Funny, he was talking to you.”

“Oh, alright then.” Lily sighed. “I fancy him, okay? I fancy him, and I want him to fancy me back. And I thought that a feminist rant at this stage might scare him off, and _yes_ I do understand the irony in that.” Lily said all of this very quickly. Remus stared at her.

“I don’t even know where to start,” he said, after a long pause. “But I’m fairly sure that you shouldn’t be compromising your ideology for a boy. Not even a boy who looks like that.”

“I know that.” Lily shrugged. “Have we reached the part where you tell me to just be myself?”

Remus nodded. “It would be if we lived in a novel. Can we skip me actually saying it? There are some clichés that even you can live without.”

“Nonsense. I adore clichés. And anyway, you have to pay for initiating this conversation.”

“Fine.” Remus gave a long-suffering sigh. “Just be yourself, Lily. James will adore you.”

 

* * *

 

(4:17pm) (From: Remus)

_Crisis aborted. Lily will be normal now. You owe me a drink._

(4:23pm) (To: Remus)

**You are fantastic. Also both of you are on mine and James’ pub quiz team for Wednesday now. x**

(4:25pm) (From: Remus)

_At the 3 broomsticks? Don’t you need 5 people for that? I’m sure there’s a rule or something._

(4:27pm) (To: Remus)

**Yeah. Don’t worry your pretty head. I know a guy to be our fifth x**

 

* * *

 

“Peter. Peter my good man,” Sirius gave his most winning smile. “you doing anything tomorrow night?”

Peter frowned. “It’s a Wednesday. Who has plans on a Wednesday night?”

“I have plans. Would you like to also have plans?”

“That kinda depends on the plans you’re offering, mate.”

“Pub quiz.” Sirius grinned. “We need a fifth man. And I’ll buy you a drink.”

Peter sighed, but there was a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, which Sirius thought was promising. “Yeah,” he said. “Alright then. When and where?”

“The three broomsticks.” Sirius said. “Eight o’clock.”

 

“This is the stupidest possible name for a pub.” James observed, looking up at the sign. “There’s no such thing as broomsticks.”

“But wouldn’t it be cool if there was?” Sirius asked, grinning.

“The coolest.” James agreed, with a solemn nod. And with that, they went inside.

Remus and Lily were already waiting for them, sitting at a corner table, drinks in hand.

“You’re late,” Lily told them, as they took their seats.

“And we’re one short of a quiz team.” Remus pointed out, “with twenty-five minutes to go.”

“Firstly, we are only five minutes late.” Sirius shrugged. “Which is hardly worth complaining about. And if you think it is worth complaining about, blame James. He insisted we walk. Secondly, our fifth man just walked in.” so saying, Sirius stood up, and waved frantically at Peter, who, looking more than a little embarrassed, made his way over to the table.

“Lads, Lily. This is Peter.” Sirius grinned. “He’s my new you, Lils. But tonight, he is our fifth man, our saviour, the final musketeer.”

“Getting a bit weird there, mate.” Peter said, with a laugh. “Anyway, there were only three musketeers.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Sirius did not sound apologetic in the least. “Anyway, sit down, we need to come up with a team name.”

“J.P and the boys.” James said, before anybody else could so much as open their mouth.

“No.” Lily shook her head. “No way.”

“Nothing with our names in, please.” Remus fixed Sirius with an imploring look. “Please?”

“No names.” Sirius nodded. “Alright, anybody got any sensible suggestions?”

“How about,” Peter said, thoughtfully “how about ‘The Marauders’?”

“Yes.” James nodded. “The Marauders. I like it.”

 

* * *

 

They did not win the quiz. They did not even come second. Remus attributed it mainly to the fact that they’d not been able to agree on most of the answers, and so had resorted to making them up instead. But he didn’t particularly care, or, rather, he wasn’t dwelling on the defeat. He had more pressing things on his mind. Like the fact that when Sirius was drunk, he sounded like an aristocrat, which was not in itself a problem, until Remus realised exactly how attractive he found it.

“But I don’t understand why,” Peter was saying. “Why do you sound like the Queen?”

“Because I’m a- no. Wait. No. I do not sound like the Queen.” But his protests fell on deaf ears.

“You sort of do, you know, a little bit,” Remus said, apologetic.

“I blame my mother.” Sirius said, after a few moments of contemplation.

James, who had been laughing harder than Remus felt was warranted at Lily’s jokes, recovered himself long enough to contribute. “He always says that. Don’t listen to him.”

“Well she hired the nanny who taught me to talk,” Sirius pointed out. Remus stared at him, bewildered. That had to have been one of the most upper-class sentences he’d ever heard, and he wanted very much to press the issue. He was getting the strong feeling that there were a lot of things he didn’t know about Sirius Black.

“Well,” James said, looking between Remus and Peter’s bemused expressions, and his grinning friend. “I need to get this drunk idiot home. He has work tomorrow, you know.”

“Mmm.” Sirius agreed. “Can’t be late again.”

“Will I see you for lunch tomorrow?” Remus asked, before he could think better of it.

“No.” Sirius shook his head. “Can’t see you anymore.”

Slowly, or, perhaps it only felt that way because his stomach was filling with lead, everybody looked at Sirius.

“What?” Remus said. He was horribly certain that someone he wasn’t even dating had just broken up with him. It felt _awful._


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, look at that, just over a week since the last update. Look at this. Look how organised I am. Anyway, this one's almost 4000 words, which is... twice as long as usual. I hope you enjoy it. Please, please please review. I'd really like some feedback.   
> TRIGGER WARNING: homophobia.

Lily Evans was a hopeless romantic. She believed in love at first sight, in soulmates and in happily ever afters. She wanted these things not only for herself, but for her friends, too. Which was why, one November night, in a Glasgow pub, she found herself considering the murder of Sirius Black.

“I can’t see you anymore,” Sirius repeated, blandly. “At lunchtimes. You make me finish my break late.”

At that, Lily felt her anger lessen a little. Sirius was not, it seemed, merely being a wanker. The look of relief that flashed onto Remus’ face before he got his expression back under control made it clear that he had reached the same conclusion.

“Oh,” Remus said, with a little sight. “I thought you meant that you didn’t want to.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to?” Sirius asked, quite clearly nonplussed. Remus did not appear to have an answer for him, and so shrugged instead.

“He’s been put on probation.” Peter supplied, helpfully. “He’ll be fired if he keeps being late.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” James groaned. “I’m taking this one home,” he glared at Sirius. “Now.” and then, turning to Remus, he forced a smile. “Mate, I’ll get him to call you or something tomorrow. But right now he and I need to have words.” looking slightly bemused, Remus nodded, bemused. He was not given the chance to reply, as James had moved on to Lily. “I’m so sorry, Lils.” He sighed, and ran hand through his hair. “I’ve got things to sort out.” James shot Sirius a furious look.

“You can call me, if you like.” Lily said, before she could stop herself. Sirius fixed her with the glassy eyed look of bewilderment that only the drunk can achieve.

“Did you just ask James on a date?” he asked.

“No,” Lily said, blushing furiously as she scribbled her phone number on a napkin. “I’m inviting him to phone me and ask me on a date.” And with that, she held the napkin out to a rather stunned James.

“Right.” He said. “I’ll do that. Come on, tosspot,” James grabbed Sirius’ arm. “Time to get you home.”

 

* * *

 

Sirius did not wake up hungover. He attributed this fact to the dim memories he had of James sobering him up with hobnobs and water before putting him to bed, and he was extremely grateful.

“I see you’re awake.” James said, rather coldly, when Sirius left his room in search of breakfast.

“I am, yes.”

“Good.” James sounded remarkably calm. Too calm, Sirius noted with apprehension. “And what time are you due at work?”

“Ten.” Sirius replied, warily.

“Oh, good. That gives you an hour and a half to explain yourself.” James flopped down onto the sofa, arms folded. “I am waiting.”

“Bully for you.” Sirius said. “Waiting for what?”

“For you to tell me why, exactly, you are on probation at work. And why you didn’t _tell me_ that you are on probation at work in the first place. And then I want to know when you were going to tell me about you and Remus.” James did not tick the points off on his fingers as he listed them, which was how Sirius knew that his anger was genuine. Swallowing, he sat down at the other end of the sofa.

“It didn’t seem like something I should bother you with.” Sirius said. “The work thing, I mean. It’s only because I’ve been late getting in or coming back from work a few times.”

“And you and Remus?” James asked.

“What about us? We’re just mates. Just friends.” Sirius shrugged. “I fancy him, if that’s what you’re asking. But there’s nothing happening.”

“Oh.” James’ glare faltered for a moment, and then returned at full force. “I’m still not clear on why you didn’t tell me that you were having problems at work.”

“Because I didn’t think it was a big deal.” Sirius shrugged. “It’s really nothing to worry about.

James’ glare softened, and he sighed. “Mate, last time you that that something was ‘nothing to worry about’, you ended up bleeding out in my hallway in the middle of the night. A week after that you’d been officially disowned and disinherited. You dropped out of university and became a barista, because you wouldn’t take mum’s money for your tuition fees. You will have to forgive me if I no longer implicitly trust your judgement on what is and isn’t worth worrying about.”

Sirius blinked. “James, that was- what happened in July was kind of an extreme case.”

“Must be,” James said. “Or you’d tell me why it happened.”

And for the first time, it occurred to Sirius that James did not know the truth. Or, rather, that James did not know the whole truth, and if he couldn’t tell James, then he couldn’t tell anybody.

“They found out that I’m gay.” Sirius shrugged. “Regulus walked in on… on something he shouldn’t have. He went running to mother and father. They didn’t take it well. My options were to be disowned, or play the dutiful son and marry Bellatrix, you remember her? My cousin. Way older than us.”

“So you packed and left.” James said, with a sigh. “And you walked across London in the middle of the night.”

“I did take the tube part of the way,” Sirius replied, with a half-smile.

“You are an idiot.” James said, “an absolute idiot. It was the middle of the night. You should’ve called me; I could’ve picked you up. Or you could have got a cab; I could’ve paid the fare. And if nothing else you can tell me about things that are happening _now_.”

“James, I-”

“No, Siri. Don’t interrupt, I’m not done yet. You can tell me _anything_ , anything _at all_. I don’t- no, I do care. If you’re not okay or if you’re in trouble, I definitely care. But I’m not going to judge you or blame you for anything.” James pulled Sirius into a rough hug. “Got it?”

Sirius nodded. “Got it.”

“Fantastic. Now, tell me, do I call Lily and ask her out today, or do I wait?”

“James, if you wait, I will murder you.”

 

* * *

 

Lily’s phone did not ordinarily go off in seminars. Normally, it was on silent. Sometimes, when she was feeling particularly studious, she turned it off. She was, therefore, bot surprised and embarrassed when it went off halfway through her Thursday nine am. She looked down, blushing. Number not recognised. Bloody brilliant.

“I’m so sorry, Janet.” Lily gave the tutor her most winning smile. “It’s my mum, I really have to take it.”

Doctor Janet D’Arcy raised one eyebrow. Lily had never felt more intimidated. Her phone was still ringing. “Very well.” she said. “Be quick, if you can.”

Lily promised that she would be and hurled herself from the room, answering just before the final ring.

“Hi, mum! I’m just in a lecture at the minute, you’ll need to be quick.”

“I am not your mother,” said James Potter’s voice.

“I know that.” Lily said, as soon as she was sure the door was shut behind her. “But I _was_ in a seminar and I kind of don’t want my tutor to hate me.”

“Oh, yeah. Seminars. Reckon I’ve got one of those later.” James sounded like he was grinning. “No, I do have one and I know that I do, but it’s going to be really boring. And I know that because I couldn’t even manage the reading.”

“How did you pass your first year?” Lily asked, with a sigh that sounded crackly and uncomfortable on the phone. She blushed again, grateful that James couldn’t see her.

“Let me take you to dinner on Saturday night and I’ll tell you all about it.”

“Dinner where?” Lily asked, as if it were a consideration.

“I don’t know,” James said. “I’ll surprise you. Just tell me where to pick you up. Seven o’clock sound good?”

Lily considered this for a moment. “I’ll text you my address,” she said, before she could think better of it.

 

* * *

 

(11:28am) (To: Sirius)

_So am I allowed to come to the cafe for lunch?_

(11:29am) (From: Sirius)

**Of course you are. I’ll do my best to explain last night if you do.**

(11:32am) (To: Sirius)

_You’d better._

 

* * *

James Potter was having what he believed was classified as _one hell of a day_. A conversation with his best friend and flatmate had revealed that Sirius’ parents were exactly what James had always feared they were, which had been more than a little unsettling. And then he’d asked Lily Evans on a date, with no real idea of where he was going to take her, or what they would do when they got there. He’d then managed to bullshit his way through a seminar where he’d been meant to discuss the reading on different training techniques, which he had not done. He’d survived that by peeking at the notes the guy sat next to him had brought. And to top it off, his rugby team, the team of which he was captain and coach, had been so utterly appalling in practise that he’d felt a little bit like crying. At least in first year he’d been able to moan to Sirius, but that felt a little insensitive, as Sirius had given up his spot on the team along with his university place. There was, in James Potter’s world, only one way to deal with a day like that. Go to the gym.

An hour on the treadmill had not helped. If anything, he’d found another problem. A very definite problem, and there was no avoiding it. He was taking Lily Evans to dinner. And that meant he would have to talk to her. Possibly about himself. _Probably_ about himself. And eventually they would come around to his family, and his childhood, if not on the first date then on one of the dates James hoped would happen after it. Which meant that Lily would eventually discover that he was ridiculously rich. Past experience told him that hiding this fact usually led to indigence and outrage, while coming clean early on lead to giving offence at the implication that it was meant to be an attractive quality, regardless of whether or not he’d ever intended that implication. Although he did suppose that the topic might come up naturally when she saw his car. There were not many university students that drove Jaguars. Even less who’d received them as a birthday gift. Owning his flat probably wouldn’t do much for him either. But his mum had insisted that he could do without certain parts of the university experience, like halls of residence, and having to walk everywhere, and James had a rule about arguing with his mum. Never do it, unless you’re okay with losing. As far as James knew, Nisha Potter had only lost one argument in her life, and that was when she’d wanted to sell the London house and move the Potters permanently to the country. She’d only been foiled by that when James’ father, Henry, had pointed out to her that he worked in London, and if they moved to the country he would never be home. She had retaliated by insisting that they send James to boarding school in Hampshire to keep him away from the city air. And that, James realised, was something else. He had a strong feeling that his educational experiences at an all-boys boarding school, with frankly extortionate fees would not be typical. All of this was going to be very strange when he had to explain it to Lily, he realised. He was also very aware that he’d never put this much thought into his upbringing before.

With a sigh, James switched off the running machine. There was no point exhausting himself running when it wasn’t even stopping him from thinking. Much better to simply go home, flop about the flat and annoy Sirius with his despair. It was the only option left.

At least thinking about his mum had given him an idea for a restaurant to take Lily to.

 

* * *

 

(4:59pm) (To: Lily <3)

**_do u fancy an indian?_ **

(5:01pm) (From: Lily <3)

Um… Idk do I?

(5:03pm) (To: Lily <3)

**_haha v funny_ **

(5:03pm) (To: Lily <3)

**_wait. u saying tht u fancy me?_ **

(5:03pm) (To: Lily <3)

**_also i meant for dinner. u know. on our date._ **

(5:05pm) (From: Lily <3)

James. I am going on a date with you. The implication is that I fancy you, yes.

(5:05pm) (From: Lily <3)

Also yes, Indian food is great by me.

(5:07pm) (To: Lily <3)

**_great. see u on saturday then_ **

****

* * *

****

Friday saw Sirius and Remus alone at the pub. Neither of them were drinking much, the end of the semester was close enough for Remus to be concerned about how much he spent, and he had a feeling that Sirius was aiming to avoid a repeat of the night before. He’d been satisfied with Sirius’ rather halting explanation and apology of the aftermath of the quiz, if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been at the pub with him. If Remus was being honest with himself (and he wasn’t) he would have admitted that the rather endearing way Sirius had blushed and stumbled over his words when they’d met at lunchtime had been part of why he’d forgiven him so readily, and not pressed for an explanation on certain points. Points like the posh voice, which would’ve been lengthening his showers for weeks if Sirius hadn’t gone and ruined it as wank material by being a prat.

Probably best not to think about wanking while Sirius was sat next to him, though.

“What I don’t understand,” Sirius was saying, “is why or how anyone can drink beer. It’s so bitter.”

“Much like my soul.” Remus replied, taking a sip of his pint. Sirius choked on his cider, and gave a rather undignified snort of laughter.

“You’re a bit ridiculous, Remus Lupin.”

“Well, with a name like Remus Lupin, I would be.” Remus grinned. “Ridiculous names explain ridiculous people, clearly. Look at you.”

“I am not ridiculous.” Sirius said, flipping his hair, in an exaggerated fashion. “I am _magnificent_.”

“You’re a drama queen is what you are,” Remus told him, since James wasn’t there to do it. “And you are ridiculous. A ridiculous drama queen. Case in point- what normal person sounds like they went to Eton when they’re drunk, hmm? Couldn’t you just slur like the rest of us mortals?”

“I do slur, when I’m really wasted.” Sirius shrugged. “And I did not go to Eton. I went to Winchester College. It’s much more expensive and much better. Also where I met James, and therefore infinitely superior to all other schools.”

“I don’t know,” Remus said. “I met Lily at my secondary school when we were eleven.”

“Eleven?” Sirius frowned. “I started at Winch when I was thirteen. Ah- but I’m forgetting about prep school.”

“You went to prep school?” Remus asked, slowly. “Preparatory school?”

“Ah, no. I was home schooled.” Sirius looked a little embarrassed at this. “Mother didn’t want me mixing with riff-raff. Father decided that at thirteen I ought to start meeting other people my age. So, boarding school.”

“You’re kidding.” Remus said. “You have to be. That’s- that’s unreal. You have to be the poshest person I’ve ever met.”

“Nonsense,” Sirius smirked. “You’ve met James. And he was given a custom built Jaguar for his eighteenth birthday by his mum and dad.”

“Just how rich is he?” Remus asked. “Wait, scrap that. How rich are _you_?”

“Not very,” Sirius said, with rather more cheer than such a statement merited. “I earn a living wage bringing people lunch and coffee. That’s about it.” he smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“I barely get the minimum where I work.” Remus pulled a face. “But then I sell second hand books, so what can you expect?”

“Hard luck, mate.” Sirius patted him on the back. “So, you say you’ve known Lily since you were eleven?”

“Yep. We found out that we actually live about ten minutes from each other, and for a while it was me, her, and this other mate of hers, but he fell in with the local anti-foreigner group, and things got awkward. Lily’s mum is Polish and the whole anti immigrant thing, and he was a bit weird with me because I grew up on the council estate…” Remus trailed off. “I was rambling, wasn’t I?”

“Oh, yes.” Sirius grinned. “But you’ve got a pretty face so you can get away with it.”

“Tosser.” Remus elbowed him in the ribs.

“How rude. Tell me, how have you survived nine years of close friendship with Lily Evans?”

“Now who’s being rude? She’s lovely and you know it.”

“I do know it.” Sirius nodded. “She’s brilliant. And she deserves James.”

“I get the feeling that’s meant to be a compliment.”

“Oh it is.” Sirius nodded again, rather more solemnly. “The highest of which I am capable.”

“You’re really something, you know? Really something.” Remus murmured, half to himself.

“A good something, I assume.” Sirius smirked. Remus wished he wouldn’t. That smirk did things to him.

“I haven’t actually made up my mind yet,” Remus mused, “it may in fact be an awful something.”

“Then I fully expect to be your first call when you do work it out.” Sirius said.

“Oh, naturally,” Remus replied, as if he hadn’t decided already that Sirius was the very best kind of something. But then, Sirius was keeping secrets, and the last time Remus had dated someone who hadn’t been honest about his past he’d ended up- well. Best not to think about that now. Best not to think about the fact that it wasn’t fair to expect Sirius to share his secrets when Remus wasn’t sharing his, either.

“You alright there, Remus?” Sirius asked, a note of concern clear in his voice.

“What? Oh, yes. Drifted off into space for a second, you know how you do.” Remus grinned. “So, I was telling you about my council house, wasn’t I?”

“Mmm, yes. And I was contemplating making you a little read hammer and a matching sickle- or is it a scythe? Anyway, one of those. You know, to help you embrace your working class roots.”

“Oh, fuck you, Black.”

 

* * *

 

 

There were a great many things that Lily Evans disliked. Brown bread, coffee and white chocolate were at the less personal end of the scale. Being nervous was very much at the other end, and was also considerably less edible. And while she sat, fiddling with her phone, waiting for James to call and say that he was waiting outside for her, she was very nervous indeed. To make it worse, her housemates had noticed.

“So,” Mary dragged the word out, grinning. “Where is James taking you?”

“Are you going to see a movie?” Marlene asked, in a tone that made it clear that she didn’t think they’d be watching anything. Or maybe it was the salacious eyebrow wiggle that did that.

“He’s taking her to dinner.” Remus chipped in. “And you’re going to want to peek out of the window at his car when he gets here, I’m told it’s something special.”

“What? Why? What’s wrong with his car?” Lily stumbled over the questions, but she never got a verbal answer, because at that moment her phone rang. With shaking hands, she answered it.

“Alright, Evans?”

“Hello, James.”

“I’m outside, I think. Uh- do you see a black car? Hazards are on. You’ve got a lot of double yellows around here.”

Lily pushed the curtain aside and peered out of the window. There was indeed a black car, hazard lights flashing, parked illegally on the other side of the street.

“James,” Lily said, rather slower than normal. “Are you driving a Jaguar? A car that, if I remember correctly, costs about forty thousand pounds?”

“I may well be, yes.” Was that her imagination, or did he sound nervous.

“Did you steal it?”

“No!” that was very definitely indigence.

“Then wait there and I’ll be down in just a minute.” Lily said, and then hung up.

 

Almost an hour later they were sat together at a corner table, halfway through their main courses.

“So,” James grinned. “We have established that I was born with a silver spoon up my arse, which naturally means that I can look at things and almost instantly know what they’re worth, but what’s your excuse for knowing how much my car costs?”

“I used to watch Top Gear with my dad, and I remember vividly his shock at how much that particular car cost.” Lily shrugged “It was his dream to own one. He was a bit of a car nut.”

“ _Was_ a bit of a car nut?” James said, repeating the phrase rather slower than Lily felt necessary. “As in… no longer a car nut? Or, um, a more general past tense?”

“He passed away a few years ago,” Lily said, rather blankly. “Cancer.”

“Oh.” James looked down at his dinner. “I’m so sorry. My dad- uh. Last summer. A heart attack.”

Lily reached across the table, and took his hand. For a few moments they sat in silence.

“What did he do?” Lily asked, after a while. “If you don’t mind me asking?”

“Something in the foreign office.” James pulled a face. “Not a clue what. That was how he met mum, though. He was attached to the British embassy in Mumbai for a while.”

“My parents met a work too,” Lily said, with a smile. “Mum was a cleaner and dad worked the night shift.”

“Ah, an office romance.” James grinned. “Seems like we’re both the result of those, huh?”

“It looks like it. Although never ever tell my sister that. She’ll take it as a personal insult.” Lily grimaced.

“You have a sister?” James gaped. “A _sister_.”

“I do. Petunia. She’s a bit awful and if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not talk about her.” Lily withdrew her hand from James’, and went back to eating.

“Oh, of course.” James smiled, and Lily felt herself soften a little. “But can I ask, what is state school like? I imagine public school must be different, right?”

“For a start, there are boys and girls all in one place, James. Imagine that.” Lily laughed at James’ feigned shock.

“You must be joking!” he exclaimed, clearly trying not to smile. “How common. Didn’t you all accidentally get each other pregnant or something?”

“Are you making fun, James Potter?” Lily asked, with mock severity.

“Depends. If I said yes, would it make you not want to be my girlfriend?” James asked, in the kind of slightly shaky voice that seemed to be striving for a casual air.

“Who said I wanted to be your girlfriend?” Lily asked, with a smirk.

“Ah, well,” James gave her a lopsided smile. “You’ve hit on my next question there, I think.”

There was a long pause.

“Well,” Lily prompted, one eyebrow raised. “Are you going to ask?”

“Oh! Oh. Yes. Lily Evans, do you want to be my girlfriend?”

“You know,” Lily said, “I rather think I _do_.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's some real outright homophobia in this chapter. Trigger warning for use of slurs.

Christmas was fast approaching, and with it, the end of the semester. In a rather mundane and distinctly non-festive turn of events, Remus Lupin was at the pharmacy. There was, he thought, something to be said for repeat prescription services. Mainly that they stopped him from running out of the medication that kept him alive and healthy. The negative was the expression on the faces of the pharmacists who prepared the prescriptions. It lay somewhere between pity and discomfort, and Remus hated it.

He was sat in the hard plastic chair, waiting for the pharmacist to find the little paper bag with his name on it, and occupying himself by staring resolutely at his Christmas shopping, which consisted of two bags by his feet. And then somebody called his name. Expecting it to be the pharmacist, he looked up to see James Potter smiling down at him.

“Remus?” What’re you doing here?”

“Collecting a prescription.” Remus shrugged. Why couldn’t he have just said that he was getting cough medicine? Why couldn’t he _lie_? But the shrug was good. Nonchalant people shrugged. What in the name of everything holy did nonchalant even _mean_? “Um…” he was supposed to respond, wasn’t he? “What about you?”

“Nicotine patches for Sirius.” James shrugged, too. He certainly looked like what Remus though nonchalant meant. “He’s with me for Christmas, but he’s not allowed to smoke in the house. These keep him bearable.”

“He should really quit.” Remus said, without much thought.

“Yeah, you’re telling me.” James sighed, ran a hand through his hair. “See if you can’t get him to see sense. God knows I’ve tried to.”

Remus was spared the need to promise his aid by the arrival of his medication, and James’ subsequent departure to the checkout. Unfortunately, this did not stop him _thinking_ about the matter. If he did suddenly start nagging Sirius about quitting smoking, would he be crossing a boundary? He’d never really commented on it before. And then there was the fact that if Sirius wasn’t listening to James, who appeared to have some kind of (little used) magical power to control him, then there was probably nothing Remus could do. And then if he did intervene, would he have to tell Sirius that he’d got the idea when he’d bumped into James while collecting his prescription medication? When- if- he chose to explain that, it wasn’t going to be a fun conversation. He was, he supposed, going to have to tell Sirius the truth sooner or later. It didn’t feel quite right, keeping the truth from someone who was otherwise so close to him.

Or maybe that was just his crush speaking? _God_ , he needed to get a grip.

 

* * *

  

On the last Wednesday of the semester, the Marauders had just lost the pub quiz. Again. They were drowning their sorrows by eating a roast chicken in place of a turkey, and associated Christmas trimmings. There were also presents. In practise, none of this was as grandiose as it sounded, because they were sitting on the floor.

“Alright, lads.” James said. “Listen up.”

“Point of order.” Sirius interjected. “Lily is not a lad.”

“You’re meant to be listening.” James reminded him, “and anyway, this is partly Lily’s idea.”

“Then by all means, get on with it”

“You are all coming to stay at my place over the new year.” James said, grinning. “Pete, you live in London. Just pack a bag and hop on the tube.”

“Uh- yeah. Yeah. Okay, sure.” Peter looked somewhat taken aback by this order, but nodded anyway.

“Wonderful.” Lily smiled. “Remus, we’re borrowing your mum’s car and driving up from Cokeworth. It’ll only be a couple of hours.”

“We could get the train,” Remus pointed out. “And then I don’t need to worry about parking mum’s car.”

“Mate, we’ve got a driveway. It’ll be perfectly safe there.”

“People have driveways in London?” Remus asked.

“Not normal people.” Peter raised his eyebrows at James.

“Anyway!” Lily interjected, rather louder than necessary. “Shall we do presents?

 

A fifteen-pound spending limit had been set on Christmas gifts. James had ignored it. Not out of an intention to be flashy, or to show off, but because he was awful at buying presents. Really rubbish at it. His only ideas were things that people had mentioned wanting, and they were always expensive.

“James, I know for a fact that this cost twice as much as you were allowed to spend.” Lily said, hitting him gently on the arm with the handbag she’d just unwrapped.

“Yeah, but you said you liked it, and I didn’t have any other ideas.”

“It is gorgeous, and you remembered that I liked it, so I shall forgive you.” Lily said, and kissed him.

“Have you got a thing about bags, James?” Remus asked, as he examined the leather briefcase-laptop bag hybrid that he’d received.

“In fairness to James, you do sort of look like the sort of person who should own a briefcase.” Sirius said, grinning.

“Oh, shush you.” Remus rolled his eyes. James suspected that the effect would be somewhat lost on Sirius, who was leaning against him, and therefore could not see.

“Well, it’s not like I bought Pete a bag.” James pointed out, as he had not. Pete had gotten a new Chelsea shirt, and he looked damn pleased with it.

“Time for presents from me now.” Sirius declared. “James, be a dear and pass them out. The gold wrapped ones.”

“I know they’re the gold ones, idiot.” James replied, rolling his eyes. “There’s only three of them.”

“Who doesn’t get a present?” Pete asked, looking up from where he had been trying to bite the tag off his shirt.

“James has to wait until Christmas day for his, or Mrs. P will be furious.” Sirius explained. “Hence why I haven’t received a year’s worth of art supplies yet.”

“Mum insists on a family Christmas, even though dad was an atheist and she’s Hindu.” James shrugged. “It does mean that we get the only nice English foods, though.”

“Potter Christmases are the best.” Sirius agreed, fervently. “Now will you please all open your presents? I spent ages choosing them.”

They all did as they were told. Lily got perfume, and loudly expressed her surprise that Sirius knew what brand she wore. Peter got a calendar that went with his shirt, and was delighted by it. And Remus received a landscape watercolour of the Clyde, and the mountains just behind her. He stared at the painting for a good long while before turning to look at Sirius.

“Did you paint this?” he asked, in a tone of surprise.

“Yep.” Sirius let the ‘p’ pop. “You were complaining about the shitty view out of your window, so I thought you could put the nice view on the wall instead.”

“It’s perfect.” Remus said, beaming. “And you’re an excellent painter.”

Sirius blushed.

 

They received a brief respite from romantic moments with Lily and Peter’s gifts. Lily had kitted everyone matching red and gold scarves, which were unanimously received with much appreciation. (James’ had a note folded into it that promised something extra later.) Peter had gotten everyone a Terry’s chocolate orange and a calendar each. James found himself impressed by how carefully chosen the calendars had been, but was unable to express this as eloquently as he might have liked because he had a mouthful of chocolate orange.

Remus had bought everybody books, which James supposed was a side effect of working in a second hand bookshop. He got a copy of something called _The Lies of Locke Lamora_ , which Remus promised him was excellent. Peter, who was doing his degree in history, got something that James didn’t catch the name but was pitched at “Napoleon with dragons”. Lily cooed over the Terry Pratchett books she’d been given. And Sirius stared down at a rather new-looking copy of _Pride and Prejudice_.

“It’s, um… it’s in a dyslexia friendly font.” Remus mumbled.

Sirius continued to say nothing for a few moments, and then threw his arms around Remus. Remus looked rather taken aback by this.

“You _remembered_.” Sirius said, letting go of Remus and beaming up at him.

“Of course I did, idiot.” Remus replied, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. They then proceeded to gaze into one another’s eyes for an unreasonably long time.

It was then that James decided that he was going to have to do something about his idiot friends.

 

* * *

 

 

“You have got to be kidding me.” Remus said, as he pulled up. The sat nav said they’d arrived, but the house was absolutely enormous. It looked like it should be several houses.

“Yeah,” Lily agreed. “Chiswick is barely London.”

“Very funny.” Remus rolled his eyes. “Do I, um, do I go and park in the… you know, I don’t think that’s a driveway. It’s too big. Looks more like a car park.”

“Oh, stop being a baby.” Lily ran a hand through her hair, and huffed when her fingers got stuck. “You’re not meeting your boyfriend’s mum.”

“Lily, what did I tell you about Remus-fancies-Sirius jokes?”

“That wasn’t one!”

“ _What did I tell you?_ ”

Lily sighed, rather theatrically. “They are banned on pain of dismemberment.”

“That’s my girl.”

 

* * *

 

 

“James! They’re here!”

“How do you know?”

“Pah,” Sirius scoffed. “Nobody ‘round here drives a Nissan Micra.”

“That,” James admitted, “is an _excellent_ point.”

“Shall we go downstairs to say hello when they ring the doorbell? I mean, they might find Claude intimidating. I live here, and I find Claude intimidating.”

“Claude is not intimidating, Sirius. Or called Claude. His name is Clive.”

“Nonsense.” Sirius shook his head. “No butler is called Clive. You must be mistaken.”

“Sirius, he’s worked here since I was nine. I have not made a mistake.” James rolled his eyes. “But I’ll concede that you’re right that he might be a bit much for a first visit.”

“The butler, a bit much? Who would’ve thought.”

“Sirius, you had a footman to answer your front door.”

“I’ll shut up now, shall I?”

James nodded. “Probably for the best, yeah.”

There was silence as they descended the stairs and took up positions in the hallway, waiting for the bell to ring.

“James?”

“Yes, Sirius?”

“Can we let Claude answer the door for Pete?”

James grinned. “Oh, of course.”

 

* * *

 

 

As far as Remus could tell, most of the house was decorated in the style one might expect from millionaires. There was oak panelling, and gilt mirrors, and furniture that looked like it’d been stolen from Versailles. It all looked very pretty, and very expensive. James, his arm around Lily, had led their way through corridors and past doors leading into more sitting rooms than Remus though anyone could ever need, a dining room, and what looked like a ballroom. There was also a room that looked suspiciously like a home cinema. Eventually, right at the back and the far-left of the enormous house, they came to a room that didn’t fit with the rest of the house at all.

It was furnished with squashy leather chairs and sofas that’d been covered in nests of blankets and cushions. It had a glass staircase spiralling up into the ceiling. One wall played host to an enormous flatscreen TV, every conceivable kind of game console arrayed beneath it. The wall into which the door was set had three enormous bookshelves. One of these was filled with games for the console, one with more DVDs than Remus had ever seen outside of a shop, and the third with books. Opposite this was a wall made entirely of glass, which looked out onto the gardens.

“So, um…” Sirius gestured around the room. “This is our den. Stairs will take you to just outside James’ bedroom.”

“Do either of you want a drink?” James asked, before anybody had a chance to process that he had his own staircase.

Remus nodded, and collapsed into one of the chairs. “I think I need a cup of tea,” he said.

“A coke might be nice,” Lily said, curling up on the sofa.

“I shall ring for Claude.” Sirius pronounced, and pressed a button next to the light switch.

“His name is Clive!” James threw up his arms in exasperation, and flopped down on the sofa next to Lily.

“Who’s called Clive?” Lily asked, shifting so that she was leaning against James.

“Allegedly, the butler. But I think Claude is much better.” Sirius shrugged, before gracefully sinking down onto a pouf by Remus’ feet. He then proceeded to rest his head against Remus’ thigh. Almost reflexively, Remus began to card his finger through Sirius’ hair. He was so preoccupied by the way Sirius hummed in contentment that he didn’t notice the look Lily and James exchanged. In fact, he had only just started to think clearly again when the butler - _an honest to god butler in this day and age_ – arrived to take drinks orders, which James and Sirius gave as if it were perfectly ordinary.

“How is that not weird to you?” Remus demanded, unable to stop himself.

“It’s not that different to a waiter.” Sirius said. “Only he lives here and does other stuff, too. But other than that he’s just like a waiter.”

“But… a waiter. In your house.” Remus shook his head. “It’s nuts.”

“Well,” James smiled. “At least we know one of you isn’t a gold-digger.”

“Oi!” Lily protested, whacking James over the head with a cushion. He was only saved from what Remus was sure would’ve been a brutal attack by the arrival of a young-ish woman dressed all in black, who was carrying the drinks. Lily froze mid-swing to stare at her. The woman did not appear to notice.

“Cheers, Maisie.” James smiled at the woman, who smiled back.

“You are an absolute angel.” Sirius added, with a smirk.

“And you’re not as charming as you think, Master Sirius.” Maisie replied, shaking her head. “Don’t let James eat all the biscuits, will you?”

“How many times must I say it, Masie? You can just call me Sirius.” Sirius told her, with something like discomfort in his voice. “Although I shall take that as permission to eat all of the biscuits myself.”

“Might help you grow, sir.” Maisie said, with a smirk, and left.

“What,” Lily said, “was that?”

“Maisie.” Sirius replied. Lily glared at him. Remus was too busy being baffled to say anything. He’d never seen Sirius flirt with a girl before. Had that even been flirting? He wasn’t sure.

“The maid.” James shrugged. “Also lives here. She’s the housekeeper’s daughter. Makes excellent biscuits.”

“Regrettably immune to my natural charm.” Sirius sighed. “Which is a terrible shame as I would put issues of sexuality aside to marry into those biscuits.”

“You have a butler, a maid, and a housekeeper. Is there a cook?” Lily looked slight baffled.

“Yes, actually.” James grinned. “Sirius.”

“Only when Mrs. P lets me at the kitchen.” Sirius smiled. “And they don’t pay me.”

“Where do you even find servants in this day and age?” Lily asked, frowning.

“Homeless shelter. Mum donates to one, and takes in the overflow.” James shrugged, running a hand through his hair, before settling for rubbing the back of his neck.

“The old servants’ quarters houses about ten people in at a time while they get back on their feet.” Sirius continued. “The people who work here just sort of stayed.”

“None of our guests ever need to leave if they would rather stay,” said a new voice from the doorway. “We’ve had all sorts, you know. Some have been more memorable than others, like the impoverished young aristocrat.”

“Most people say hello when they enter a room,” James said, rolling his eyes.

“You know, this is why I like Sirius better.” The woman, who had to be Mrs. Potter, smiled at James, who only laughed. “Hello, though. I’m Nisha Potter. James and Sirius’ mother.” As she spoke, she further into the room, sitting on the edge of the coffee table.

“How unfortunate for you,” Remus mumbled.

Mrs. Potter burst into laughter. “You must be Remus.,” she said, beaming at him. “Sirius said you were funny.”

Both Sirius and Remus went scarlet at this.

“James, are you going to introduce me to your friend?”

“Oh, yeah.” James flushed a little. “Mum, this is Lily, my girlfriend. Lily, this is my mum.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Potter.” Lily smiled at Mrs. Potter, who smiled back.

“I’m very pleased to meet you. You’re even more beautiful than James said you were. But to business! I’ve come to ask about bedrooms. Would you like your own, Lily, or will you share with James?”

“Mum!” James protested. This was followed by a rapid exchange in a language Remus did not know, but which he assumed was Mrs. Potter’s mother tongue. It ended with James blushing scarlet.

“Well, Lily, it’s your choice.” Mrs. Potter said, triumphant. Remus got the impression that James had taken after his mother.

“We’ll share, if you really don’t mind.” Lily said, which only made James’ blush worse. He didn’t protest, though, and neither did Mrs. Potter, who merely turned to Sirius and Remus.

“And what about you two boys?” she asked.

“Remus is not my boyfriend, and will be having his own bedroom.” Sirius said, firmly.

“Well, _I_ arrived at an interesting moment.” Peter said, from the doorway.

  

* * *

 

 

On the first of January, they toasted in the New Year. Everybody drank too much champagne and sang along too loudly to the concert playing on the telly. They set off fireworks in the back garden, and Sirius and Remus danced under the bursts of colour because Chiswick is close enough to London proper that you can’t see the stars anymore. Mrs. Potter laughed at her sons and at their friends, but she poured them more champagne anyway.

At two am, Lily pressed her lips to James’ neck, murmured something nobody else heard. Giggling, they slipped inside, kissing their way to James’ bedroom. It was not their first time, either together or apart, but they had not had time, yet, to learn one another as well as they might have liked, and the alcohol made their fingers clumsy. They did not let it stop them. Eight weeks later, they would wish it had.

But more on that later.

 

* * *

 

Lily woke up to pressure in her head and a bitter taste in her mouth.

“Ugh,” she said, curling against James’ side. “I’m never drinking again. New Year’s resolution.”

“I’m sympathising,” James murmured. “Why is it always so much worse with champagne?”

“Punishment for being so bourgeoisie?” Lily suggested, and James laughed.

“God, I love you,” he said, pressing a kiss to her temple.

There was a very long silence, finally broken by Lily, who rolled over to look up at James.

“Say it again,” she told him, heart hammering in her chest. She had to be sure, sure she hadn’t imagined that.

“I love you,” James said, and as Lily opened her mouth to reply, he looked about as nervous as she felt.

 

* * *

  

“I love you, too.”

James breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t entirely expected her to say it back. He hadn’t entirely expected to say it himself.

“Well, that’s good.” He said, eventually, prompted largely by his inability to think of something else to say.

“It _is_ rather wonderful,” Lily agreed, smiling. “Now, it’s your turn to make a new year’s resolution. I’ve done mine.”

“I,” James said, after a moment of thought, “I am going to get Sirius a boyfriend.”

Lily grinned. “I’ll work on Remus,” she said.

 

* * *

 

“Good morning, Siri.” James flopped down at the foot of Sirius’ bed.

“No.” Sirius said, rolling over.

“Mum wants your help with breakfast.” James pulled the covers off him.

“Fuck _off_.”

“Don’t talk to your mum like that.”

“Not my mum.” Sirius snapped, glaring.

“Yeah she is.” James sighed. “How many times do we have to go through this? You are her son, and my brother.”

“I’m her charity project.” Sirius spat. “I am, and you know it.”

“Nah, mate.” James shook his head. “You’re just the only one who doesn’t know the truth.”

Sirius sighed. “You might be right.” He allowed. “I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Remember, we’re driving Pete home later.” James said, standing up. “And then Lils and I are going to the V and A, so you’re going to have to entertain Remus.”

“You’re trying to set me up on a date, aren’t you?”

James smirked. “You might be right.”

 

* * *

 

 

“So, you’ve got Sirius to yourself all afternoon.” Lily said, with a sly smile. “You two can talk some more.”

“Lily,” Remus sighed heavily. “I am not telling him.”

“You’ll have to do it eventually.”

“Not if I never date him,” Remus pointed out. “And I doubt he’ll want to date me when he knows.”

“Remus, you’re _ill_ , not a monster.” Lily sighed, shook her head. “At least give him a chance to make up his own mind instead of deciding for him.”

“If he’s honest with me, I’ll be honest with him.” Remus said. “I’m not going into a relationship without knowing what skeletons are in his closet.”

Lily nodded. “Alright,” she said. “I suppose that’s fair enough.”

 

* * *

 

 

 _Try telling him about yourself_. Sirius had never before received such cliché advice. But that was all James had given him when he’d asked for suggestions on how to occupy Remus for an afternoon. And so here he was, in the back of the car, being driven to Kensington. The houses were familiar, the names of the roads as ingrained in his mind as his family tree. It was not comforting. He’d not been this close in months, had sworn to himself that he wouldn’t come here again. But he’d once had a fortune cookie that told him that he couldn’t move forward without accepting what he’d left behind, and although it was a new personal low to be taking advice from food, he thought the cookie might’ve had a point.

“Stop here, Jeremy.” Sirius called to the driver. “Just pull over and wait for us, we won’t be long.”

“Right you are, sir.” Jeremy said.

“Jeremy,” Sirius told Remus, as they walked away from the car, “used to be a cabbie. Best chauffer anyone could ask for. Knows all the shortcuts.”

“Fascinating,” Remus replied. “You know what fascinates me more? Where we’re going. You haven’t told me anything.”

“I wanted a private conversation with you,” Sirius said, coming to a stop and looking at his feet. It was easier than looking at Remus. “There’s some stuff I want to tell you.”

“On a street corner?”

“Bear with me,” Sirius’ palms were sweaty. He wiped them on his jeans. It made no difference. “So, there’s some stuff, and I’ve hinted at it before but I want you to know for certain.”

“Sirius-”

“No, don’t. I need to say it now or I probably never will.” Sirius took a deep breath. “O-okay. Okay. See that house, the one with the black and silver door?” he pointed. He could only hope that Remus had nodded. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the weak winter sunlight that gleamed on the embellishments. “That’s where I grew up. Number twelve Grimmauld Place, ancestral home of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. I suppose you’ve worked it out by now, but I was thrown out, sort of. It was half me being thrown out, half me running away. The, um, the impoverished aristocrat Mrs. P referred to, I don’t know if you remember, but that was, uh… me.” And then he looked up at Remus, who was staring at the door, something like anger in his eyes. After a few moments, he sighed, and looked back at Sirius.

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate you telling me all this,” Remus said, “it’s more that I don’t understand why you’re doing it now.”

Ah. This was the bit where he really needed to be brave. “Well,” Sirius tried to smile. He had a feeling that it just looked pained, so he desisted. “It has been brought to my attention that I should tell you the deal-breakers before I ask you to date me. So… here’s my emotional baggage.”

Blinking in astonishment, Remus opened his mouth. But before he could speak, an all-too familiar voice came from behind them.

“Oh, look, Reg. It’s the cocksucker.” Sirius wheeled around to face Bellatrix, who stood, smirking, perhaps three meters away.

“Fuck off, Bella.” He spat, literally, aiming for her feet.

“Only one of us has the right to be here,” she replied, with that manic giggle of hers. “He can’t get in the house, or at the family money, if that’s what you’re after.” This was addressed to Remus, and followed by a delicate pause. “Or,” she continued. “Are you paying him for something? I suppose it might explain why you’re hanging about on street corners, Sirius dear. Either way, whoever you are, you should probably stay well clear.”

“I don’t remember asking for your advice,” Remus said, in the sort of tone one might use to comment upon the weather. “So, you know, you can take it, your insinuations, and your bigotry, and shove them up your ignorant arse.”

“What did you just say to me? You filthy-”

“Bella, stop.” Regulus laid a hand on her arm. “They’re just fags. Not worth our time.”

Sirius felt his blood run cold, and then hot. The words felt like a slap in  the face. Surely Regulus couldn’t have, wouldn’t have…

“Sirius, c’mon.” Remus murmured, taking him by the hand, “lets get you back to the car, yeah?”

Numb, unable to form words, Sirius followed Remus back to the car. Regulus, little Reggie, his baby brother, had called him a fag. Had spat the insult as if even the slur might taint him if he held it in for too long. And he hadn’t even had the decency to look Sirius in the eye as he had done it.

“Sirius, are you alright?” Remus asked, as soon as they were back in the car.

“What?” he blinked. “Oh, yeah. No. I- I’m okay. It’s not okay, but I’m okay.”

“That makes no sense,” Remus said, gently. “And you said it all very quickly, and I’m really quite worried about you.”

Sirius sighed. “I’m going to be fine. I promise. A cup of tea and a scone and a fa- a smoke and I’ll be as good as new.”

“Okay, fair enough.” Remus nodded. “Um… about what you said earlier…”

“Can we… can we have this conversation later?” Sirius asked, with regret twisting in his stomach. “I need a moment, some, uh, metaphorical breathing space.”

“Sure,” Remus said, with an understanding smile. Sirius thought his heart might burst with adoration if Remus kept fussing over him like this.  “Tea and scones it is. But maybe skip the cigarette?”

Sirius groaned. “Not you, too. Fine. I’ll hold off on the smoke for now.”

  

* * *

 

 

Remus did not like losing his temper. He actively avoided it. But he had never wanted to let himself go in quite the way he had when Sirius’ relatives had stood and hurled slurs at them. It had only gotten worse as the day had gone on. Sirius had been slow to respond and easily distracted all day. He’d been utterly silent from the moment they’d collected James and Lily from the museum and begun the journey back to James’. Remus hated it. He also no longer had an excuse not to tell Sirius his own secret, other than that he didn’t want to. And that was looking less and less like a reason. He had just made the decision to tell Sirius the truth when they arrived back at the Potter house, and there was another interruption.

“Sirius!” Remus watched as Mrs. Potter enveloped him in a hug. “Your uncle Alphard is waiting for you in the morning room, he says it can’t wait.”

“Ah. I’ll go to him, then.” Sirius said, dully, and left. As Remus watched him go, he felt a flood of concern tightening his chest. He had known Sirius for three months, and even he knew that this was wrong. Completely and utterly wrong. And he hated it, hated how wrong it felt to be around Sirius when he was like this, hated the people responsible.

 

* * *

 

 

Alphard Black looked much the same as Sirius remembered him; sharp suit, almost certainly Saville row, silver ring emblazoned with the family crest on his left hand. Perhaps, Sirius thought, he was a little thinner than he had used to be, but other than that there was nothing to merit the air of nervous energy that was emanating from his uncle.

“Sirius!” He was pulled into a hug, which made him grin. Alphard had always been the only adult Black who had indulged in physical affection. “How are you doing, my boy?”

“I’m well, thank you, Uncle.” Sirius smiled, gestured to a chair. “Would you like to sit? I can send for tea if you’d like.” And, gosh, but his mother would’ve been proud of him in that moment. Perfect manners.

“No need.” Alphard sat, and sighed heavily. “I would rather not be interrupted. And when I’ve said what I came to say, I think we may both be in need of a stiff drink.”

“Ah.” Sirius swallowed, and sat down. “I suppose you had better say it then, hadn’t you?”

“First, I must apologise. I ought to have come sooner, but your mother refused to tell me where you had gone after you left. Regulus told me today that he had seen you and that he believed you to be here.”

“And did he tell you what he said when saw me?” Sirius asked, with all the calm he could muster.

“He did.” Alphard nodded. “He also told me why you were disowned, and asked me to pass on his apologies in his part in everything that has happened.”

Sirius snorted. “Tell him to go fuck himself with his apologies.”

Alphard sighed, but nodded. “As you wish, my boy, as you wish. But you may have to forgive me if I do not use those exact words.” he paused, as if considering what he would say next. “Now, I think it is best that we move to the reason I am here. I wish to make you my heir. I am, as you know, fortunately devoid of children, but the matter of who is to inherit my possessions and funds has become rather urgent of late. And I hope that you know that I would have been very proud to call you my son.”

“As lovely as this is, uncle Al, d’you have a point.” Sirius drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. “I don’t mean to be rude, but so far you’ve not said anything a maid couldn’t overhear, and this is all feeling very overdramatic.”

“Right you are, dear boy, right you are.” Alphard was, in Sirius’ opinion, far too difficult to piss off. He wasn’t even frowning. “To business then, I suppose. I have come here to tell you that I want to make you my heir because I shall be dead by the end of February.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be a little slow coming compared to my recent pace. Maybe three weeks or so, as I've got uni work to do this week, and cosplays to finish up before MCM next week so I'm not going to have a lot of time for writing.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing to watch out for but a lot of swearing in this chapter. I'm sorry it took me so long, I was hoping to have this up a few days ago. Updates should be back to once every 10-14 days now, although the next chapter is a long one.

“What do you suppose his uncle wants?” James asked, for what Remus estimated was the twelfth time in perhaps six minutes.

“We don’t know, James,” Lily patted the back of his hand. Remus thought her reassurances sounded rather less patient now.

“Do you think he’ll be okay? Did he know his uncle was coming? Was that why he was being weird earlier?” James had also asked all of these questions before. Or, maybe, Remus was having a severe case of déjà vu.

“I don’t know, James. Maybe you should ask Remus, they were together all afternoon, after all,” Lily shot Remus an apologetic look. He resisted the urge to glare- she really did look sorry, and it was hardly her fault if he was a terrible liar. Lies of omission, he was terrific at those. He could not tell people all kinds of crucial information. Making things up had always been Lily’s forte, not Remus’.

“Well? Did anything happen when you and Sirius were out?”

And there it was. A direct fucking question. Remus’ ultimate weakness.

“Yes,” see? He’d meant to say _no_. He’d opened his mouth fully intending to say no. Apparently it wasn’t as easy as anti-drugs slogans would have you believe.

“What?” James looked so frantic that Remus couldn’t bring himself to lie, or to stall for time.

“We had an encounter with some of his relatives. They said some stuff that upset him.” Remus sighed.

“Who? Which relatives? Older or younger than us?” James demanded, standing up.

“Uh- a girl called Bella, I think? She was older than us. And a boy called Reg, or something? Younger, I’d say. Definitely not his uncle, either of them.”

“Regulus,” James spat the word as if it were the worst insult he knew. “And Bellatrix. Reg is his little brother, and a wanker. Bellatrix is his cousin, and fiancée. Well, ex fiancée, I suppose.” With a sigh, James collapsed back into his seat.

Lily raised her eyebrows. “He was going to marry his cousin? That’s gross.”

“He was _supposed_ to marry his cousin. An arranged thing, I think,” James shrugged. “The details are not mine to share.”

“Still. That’s _weird_. Really weird. Marrying your cousin?” Lily pulled a face.

“His whole family is weird,” James agreed, fervently.

  

* * *

 

 

“What?” Sirius demanded. “What the _fuck_? You’re dying and you tell me by popping in for bloody fucking _tea_?”

“You may recall that I declined the offer of tea.” Alphard said, with a wry smile. “I am sorry to have told you like this, my boy, but I couldn’t wait. You must see that.”

“No. No, I don’t fucking see. You haven’t explained anything.”

“I have told you what you need to know. The rest falls to Andromeda, and to my lawyers. They will be executors of my will. I do not have long left,” Alphard seemed remarkably calm, which was only making Sirius angrier. “My condition is about to deteriorate rapidly. I shall spare you the details; they are unpleasant, to say the least. But soon I shan’t be in a fit state to have this conversation. I wanted to prepare you.”

“And you didn’t think to break it to me gently?” Sirius glared daggers at his uncle. “Christ, would a little sensitivity be too much to ask?”

“I am the one dying, Sirius. Perhaps you might consider a little sensitivity yourself.” Alphard’s voice had turned to ice, and Sirius was abruptly certain that he had gone too far.

“I’m sorry,” Sirius ground out the words. It was not the most convincing apology he had ever made. “I just don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand?” the anger in Alphard’s voice was gone, as if it had never been. “I am going to leave you two-thirds of my assets and funds. The remainder will go to Andromeda. I am going to make you rich again.”

Sirius thought his uncle’s smile looked astonishingly like his mother’s.

“Isn’t that what you want, Sirius?”

“Why me? I’m the family disappointment. Why would you help me now, when you never have before?” and there it was, the only question that mattered. Alphard seemed to recognise this, and he sighed heavily.

“You feel as if I have abandoned you.” it was not a question. “That’s fair. I haven’t done everything that I ought to have done. But now I am able to give you something. Perhaps it isn’t all that I owe you, but financial security should not be underestimated.” Alphard shrugged. “It’s not enough, but it’s all that I can do.”

“Right,” Sirius said. He didn’t feel that any of his questions had been answered. He wasn’t sure that he even knew what his questions were anymore.

“I am also under the impression that you only have a week or two left to reapply to university,” Alphard smiled. “I am offering you the money for your tuition fees and living expenses, to be transferred to your bank account immediately after I leave here.”

“I could have got a loan.” An outright lie, but Sirius couldn’t help trying to save his pride. He’d looked into loans already, and he’d still be judged on his parent’s income, which meant that he wouldn’t get any financial support at all.

“Ah, but to be debt free would be a lovely thing, would it not?” Alphard seemed unphased. “Do what you want, but the offer stands. I hear education is considered desirable.”

“Oh, so you’re also here to encourage me to go back to uni.” Sirius tried not to roll his eyes. “I wasn’t aware that you’d assumed the role of parental guardian.”

“I think,” Alphard mused, “I think that it may be a little late for me to try and be a parent to you. As I said, this is the least of what I owe you. Will you accept the offer?”

Sirius sighed. “Oh, what the hell,” he said. “Sure, I’ll take your money.”

  

* * *

 

 

James grabbed Sirius as soon as he re-joined the others, and dragged him into one of the many drawing rooms.

“What did you uncle want?” he demanded. “And why didn’t you tell me about Bella and Reg earlier?”

“One question at a time, Jamie.” Sirius slumped into a chair. “Bella and Reg… they both said some stud. I was angry, and I still am, and I don’t want to talk about it.”

James nodded. It was strange, not having Sirius tell him everything. Or, rather, having firm evidence that Sirius did not tell him everything. But he had no desire to push his friend. He’d seen other people do that, and he quite liked his nose unbroken.

“Alright. What about your uncle?”

“He’s dying.” Sirius said, blankly. “Didn’t tell me what of, only that it’ll be soon. And he’s leaving me a lot of money.”

“Oh, Siri,” James didn’t hesitate before enveloping Sirius in a tight hug. “You okay?”

Sirius shook his head; or, at least, James thought he did. It was difficult to tell with Sirius’ head buried in his shoulder.

“No,” the muffled reply server to clarify the head movement. “He’s- he’s the only decent one. Only adult in that place who never hit me, and I’m not there anymore but I still feel like I’m losing my protection and it’s- it’s _shit_.”

James didn’t know what to say. Sirius had never actually told him, had never admitted, that his parents had hit him. And although James had always suspected, ever since they’d been teenagers and he’d seen the bruises when they changed for P.E, even with all that, it still shocked him.

“You’re going to be okay,” James said, because there was nothing else he could say. “It’s all going to be okay. I promise. You’re going to be fine.”

And Sirius began to cry. More than a little taken aback, James hesitated before pulling Sirius closer. He muttered every reassurance he could think of, and carded his fingers through Sirius’ hair, and tried not to think about how much he hated everyone who had ever hurt his friend. It was hardly the time for Sirius to be worrying about him.

  

* * *

 

 

Remus and Lily waited half an hour for James and Sirius to return. In this time they managed to dissect every possible way Remus could disclose his own secrets to Sirius. Remus felt that this was impressive, as Lily’s contributions had largely been lecturing him about feeling ashamed for having an illness that wasn’t his fault. He wasn’t ashamed. He was just reluctant to share the information. There was a very persistent worry that Sirius would lose interest when he found out. All the self-love and self-acceptance in the world wouldn’t make other people accept him.

All of this was forgotten when James and Sirius re-entered the room. Sirius’ eyes were red and puffy; James’ face a picture of concern.

“I’m going to take a nap,” Sirius murmured. “But, um, can I have a word with you first, Remus?”

Remus stood up, nodding. “Yeah, of course. Uh- I’ll walk with you.”

Sirius smiled. “People really say that, huh? Sure. Walk with me.”

For perhaps a minute, they walked through the house in silence. Remus had the feeling that he was meant to wait for Sirius to begin a conversation, so he stayed quiet. After an indeterminable period, this strategy seemed to pay off.

“So,” Sirius said, “I’m going to need a rain check on everything that we were talking about earlier, if that’s okay with you?”

Remus nodded again. “Of course. Can I- can I ask, is this to do with what happened earlier?”

“No,” Sirius shook his head. “No, it’s not that. My uncle is dying, and it has been suggested to be by James that I should avoid all big decisions until I’ve got my head on straight.”

“Of course,” Remus smiled. He hoped it was reassuring. “You know I’m here, whatever you need, yeah?”

“Thank you.” Sirius stood on tiptoe and kissed Remus on the cheek. Before he could react, Sirius had slipped into his bedroom, and closed the door behind him. The soft click of the lock told Remus that it was time to leave.

 

* * *

 

“Fuck them!” James slammed his fist into the wall. “Fuck them. They never deserved him. _Never_.”

“James!” Lily grabbed his arm and pulled it towards her. “I know you’re angry, but please don’t hit things.” As she spoke, Lily began testing James’ fingers. “Well, you haven’t broken anything yet, but if you will if you keep punching the damn walls. If we’re really unlucky, you’re going to break the walls.”

“Don’t be cute, Lily. I’m furious. I am not in the mood for cute.” James shook his head, sighing.

“Then why don’t you explain to me what it is that’s got you so angry?” Lily pushed James down onto the sofa. “Talk to me?”

“They hit him. His family hit him. And I saw the bruises, and I had teachers ask me if he was okay at home, and I kept my mouth shut.” James put his head in his hands. “I could have helped him.”

“It isn’t your job to fix everything, Jamie. You- I mean, he lives here with you now, doesn’t he? And in Glasgow. You’re helping now. So, so much.” Lily rubbed circles on James’ shoulders. She didn’t quite understand how she’d gone from slapping him to giving him backrubs and holding him while he fell apart at the seams. She did know that she was glad that she had. She knew that she was happy with James. And although that was several dozen kinds of confusing, Lily reckoned she was pretty okay with it.

 

* * *

 

Given that Lily and Remus had returned to Cokeworth on the day after Alphard’s visit, Sirius and Remus had scheduled their conversation for the first Friday that they were back in Glasgow. They had eschewed the pub, and were instead sitting on the sofas in James and Sirius’ apartment. Remus had hot chocolate, Sirius tea. Neither had spoken for almost ten minutes, and it was getting uncomfortable. Sirius was itching for a cigarette. But he’d never gone so long without one and was reluctant to break the streak.

“So…” Sirius said, deciding that he couldn’t take the silence any longer. “ I was telling you about my potential deal-breakers, wasn’t I?” he didn’t wait for an answer to the question, instead ploughing on with the list. “So, I’m scared of the dark, I get very loud nightmares, my family are arseholes, as you know. Oh, and I’m French.”

“Well,” Remus took a ponderous sip of his hot chocolate. “The French thing is a bit much.”

Sirius grinned, despite himself. “Well, don’t make your mind up just yet, give me a chance first.”

“You haven’t heard my deal breakers yet,” Remus cautioned. “For instance, I once pushed a nun over, and almost always late for things. Sometimes I don’t bush my hair for weeks at a time. And I am HIV positive.”

Sirius had not been prepared for a genuine confession. He very nearly dropped his tea.

“Excusez-moi? Um- shit, sorry- pardon me?”

“I did take GCSE French. I do know what excusez-moi means.” Sirius nearly flinched at the way Remus mangled the pronunciation.

“Well, the question still stands,” Sirius said. “Did I mishear?”

“If you heard ‘I am HIV positive’ then no, you did not.” Remus sighed. “If it’s too much, then I understand.”

“Nah,” Sirius shook his head. “We’d just have to be careful, right? I mean, I’ll admit that I am hardly well-read on the subject, but I can find stuff out.”

Remus stared.

“Um… was that the wrong answer?” Sirius asked, after a few moments of silence.

“No. That was exactly the right answer,” Remus sighed. “I’ve been stressing out about telling you this since November, and then you just go and give the perfect response. All that worrying for nothing.”

“Well, I’m not going to apologise for that,” Sirius said, after some consideration.

“I don’t want you to. Just- God, I was expecting awkward questions about how I got it or something.” Remus shrugged. “Everyone else I’ve ever told has pushed me for an answer.”

“You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to. And anyway, I know that’s it’s basically like and STD. So I can pretty much guess the rest.” Sirius shrugged, too. “I’ve heard enough from my dear mother about God’s plagues on gay men as punishment for their sins- she’s a bit of a nutter, yes? Although I’m kind of surprised that you’re the first person I’ve met with it, ‘specially with some of the clubs I’ve been to. And you know what? I’m shutting up now.”

“People aren’t always forthcoming about it.” Remus muttered, darkly. “And, you know, also the bisexual men’s disease.” He gestured to himself.

“Oh! Oh, right. My mistake.” Sirius could feel himself blushing. “Sorry, I just assumed…”

“Most people do, don’t worry about it.” Remus shrugged, and gave a wry smile.

“So,” Sirius said, feeling that a change of subject was in order. “We’ve done the deal breakers, which means that we come to the crux of the matter. “D’you wanna go on a date with me?”

“Yeah, alright.” Remus laughed. “Why not?”

 

* * *

 

 

The date was dinner and a movie. The movie was good, and aside from a few whispered remarks, they actually watched it. A mutual decision had been made that the cinema wasn’t the best place to be making out, for the sake of everyone else there. Sirius cooked dinner, in his and James’ apartment. James and Lily had gone to the pub with Peter, and had promised to be out late. There was no risk of interruptions, although, by the time pudding rolled around, it didn’t look like there was any reason to fear interruptions. The dinner conversation had devolved into asking one another pointless questions. They had learned all kinds of useless facts about one another, from celebrity crushes (Chris Evans for Remus, and Mark Ruffalo for Sirius) to favourite super hero, first crushes, and favourite schoolteachers.

“Favourite colour?” Remus asked.

“Gold,” Sirius smirked, and took a sip of his wine. “Yours?”

“Blue. And it’s cheating to ask me what I’ve just asked you.”

“Since when?” Sirius demanded, pouting.

“Since always. Go again.”

“Fine, favourite food?”

“Oh, well, that’s easy.” Remus grinned. “Steak, rare. Fried in garlic butter.”

“Well, that can be what I cook you next time,” Sirius grinned.

“Next time? Remus raised an eyebrow. “You’re awfully confident, aren’t you?”

“Hard not to be when you look this good.” Sirius gave a salacious wink, and then laughed. “So, how about it?”

“A next time doesn’t sound _too_ awful,” Remus allowed, with a smile. “But you know, I have to run a few tests first.”

“Tests?” Sirius raised his eyebrows. “That sounds ominous.”

“Honestly I was just trying to be smooth about wanting to make out with you.” Remus blushed.

“Well. Well. Well. That sounds like a much, much better plan.” Sirius put down his wine glass and smiled.

 

“You know what?” Sirius said, some time later. “This was a bloody brilliant idea.”

“Stop talking,” Remus said, and pulled him in for another kiss.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I had hoped to get this up on Monday, but it's now a quarter to one on Tuesday so I missed that window. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this, as usual! Reviews would be very much appreciated- I'd love to know what you're all thinking.

Alphard Black passed away on the sixteenth of February, two thousand and fifteen. Sirius found out that evening. The doorbell rang, the harsh sound of the electric buzzer drowning out the sound of the radio for a heartbeat. For a few seconds, as he made his way to the front door, Sirius was confused. Lily had a key; she didn’t need the doorbell. Remus usually borrowed the aforementioned key, and Peter called instead of using the buzzer. But when Sirius opened the door to see Andromeda, he understood.

Wordless, Sirius stepped aside to let Andromeda in. she looked tired, and older than she ought to have done.

“Is he-?” Sirius could not finish the question.

“Yes,” Andromeda nodded. “This morning. I wanted to call you, but nobody had a contact number for you. Your address, however, was on this.” She held out an envelope. It was creamy, expensive-looking paper, and Sirius suspected that if he were to turn it over, he would find the family crest stamped on the back.

“He left me a letter?” Sirius asked, taking it.

“I don’t know,” Andromeda admitted. “I haven’t opened it”

Sirius squeezed the envelope. Andromeda was right- there was a lump in it that didn’t feel like paper. He considered setting it aside, but curiosity overcame him. He opened the envelope carefully. After all, the man who had left it to him had just died; it wouldn’t have been right to tear it apart. Inside there was no note, only the heavy silver ring that his uncle had always worn. The Black family crest was enamelled into the surface. Sirius slipped it onto his right ring finger, where his uncle had always worn it.

“Would you like tea?” he asked, as he dropped the empty envelope into the wastepaper basket.

“Something a little stronger might be nice,” Andromeda sighed, “Ted has Dora back in London, I can afford to let myself go a little. My hotel is just down the road.”

“I can do that,” Sirius said, with a half-smile.

 

They sat, sipping whiskey and talking about their uncle for some time. Somehow, they did not manage to discuss the important parts, like funeral arrangements, until their drinks were finished.

“So,” Sirius said, when he could take no more small talk, “what happens now?”

“You sign a lot of paperwork.” Andromeda smiled, “and then I take care of the details. If you like, that is. I was uncle Al’s lawyer, I handled most of his affairs, I can do the same for you?”

“That would be fantastic,” Sirius nodded, “absolutely fantastic. I don’t know anything about managing money or assets or- or any of it.”

“It’ll be fine,” Andromeda patted the back of one of Sirius’ hands in a reassuring sort of way. “I’ve left a copy of my retainer contract in my hotel. I’ll bring it over tomorrow, and we can go through it.”

“Thank you,” Sirius nodded, grateful. “What about the funeral?”

“Uncle Al was a very organised man,” she said, “he’s decided on what he wants, you just need to sign the paperwork, and pay the bills. But he’s left you somewhere in the region of sixty million pounds, once inheritance tax is paid, and some assets- stocks, real estate, that kind of thing. And the title, of course. You won’t need to worry about affording it.”

“Alright,” Sirius nodded. He had known that it would be a lot of money. His uncle had been the oldest son in his branch of the family, and so had received the largest portion of the money, which he had been investing well for many years, but… the thought of being a multi-millionaire, of having back everything he’d lost, was too overwhelming to think about. “So, is there anything else I need to do?”

“Give me your phone number. That way I can keep in contact with you and keep you updated on everything you need to know.”

“And that’s it?”

“That’s it.”

 

* * *

 

 

Something was wrong. Lily knew it with a crushing certainty. Her shelf in the bathroom cabinet was full, full of two months worth of tampons and sanitary towels. And now, when she thought about it, she hadn’t had a period since December. Or was it November? No, she’d been on over Christmas, had only just finished before she went to James’… so, eight or nine weeks. That definitely wasn’t right. She’d never paid much attention to when she was due, but as a trainee nurse, she understood how this was supposed to work.

Frowning, Lily left the bathroom in search of her handbag. If she was quick, she could nip to the pharmacy before work.

 

Lily’s shift ended late. Bu the time she’d gotten home and had something to eat, she had almost forgotten about the little box in her handbag. Almost, but not quite.

Locking herself into the bathroom, Lily sat down on the edge of the bath, and stared at the box. She knew how these things worked. Pee on the stick, wait two minutes, find out if you’ve got a bun in the oven. There were three tests in the pack, and, with shaking hands, Lily took one out.

She washed her hands while she waited, and then washed them again, because it hadn’t been two minutes yet. It took her another age to gather the courage to look at the test, or perhaps it only felt that way. The two red lines, the ones that meant she was pregnant, did not come as a surprise. Lily had known, had guessed, that this would be the result. The surprise was how she felt. She had expected fear, anxiety, or shock. Something like that, anyway. Instead, she felt strangely relieved. What came next was simple to her. She knew the steps, understood the biology, all of it. And if she were already two months along, with a bit of luck, she might have the baby before her third year of university. She might not have to take a year out. Although, perhaps she might want to… she would have to talk to James.

Therein lay the problem. She was going to have to tell James. If they were having a baby, he needed to know. They would have to discuss this together. Lily had no doubt that he’d be a good father. James had, after all, spent the last week taking care of Sirius, helping him make sense of the papers he had to sign. She wasn’t going to see him again until Friday, in another three days. And she should get everything confirmed by a doctor first. And so, with now-steady hands, Lily unlocked the bathroom door, and made her way to her bedroom, to phone her doctor. She’d have to wait for the receptionist to call her back in the morning to schedule an appointment, but she might as well get it over with. And then on Friday she could tell James. Just… not in front of everyone else.

 

* * *

 

James’ mother and father had insisted that he take law at A-Level. He was grateful for that now, although at the time he had resented it as unnecessary to his ambitions to become a professional rugby player, or, failing that, a personal trainer. He, at least, vaguely understood what was in the forms that Sirius was being asked to sign. For his part, Sirius was coping well, James thought. The only thing James found odd was the fact that Sirius had taken to wearing the ring that had been in the envelope Andromeda had brought. He couldn’t help but find the sight of Sirius proudly displaying his family crest a little disconcerting. But he said nothing; after all, he himself wore his father’s signet ring. If Sirius’ helped him feel better, or closer to his uncle, then it wasn’t James’ place to question that.

“So what’s this one?” Sirius asked, dully, holding up a piece of paper.

“I, um… I think that’s just a letter. His post is being sent on to you now.” James shrugged, gave Sirius an encouraging smile. “D’you want me to read it to you?”

Sirius nodded. “Please. I don’t want to be here for the rest of the day trying to read it.”

“Alright then,” James opened the envelope and cleared his throat. “Mr. Sirius Black, I am writing on behalf of Lord Orion Black and Lady Walburga Black, Marquess and Marchioness of Winchester. They wish for you to be informed that due to the changes made to his will his shortly before his death, your uncle, His Grace Alphard Black, Duke of Northumberland, has been hereby disowned and disinherited by the remainder of his family. This posthumous disownment stands until you relinquish all claims to his titles, lands, and other possessions. Yours cordially, Mr. Anthony Selwyn, QC.” James pulled a face as he set down the letter, “sending you post through your uncle’s rerouted mail. That’s low.”

“They disowned him,” was all Sirius said. “So that I can’t get any more family money. Or I give up what I’ve got. _Bastards_.”

“Are you… okay?” James asked, a little hesitantly.

“Pretty much.” Sirius sighed. “Angry. Although that means I feel less like crying, if that’s what you mean.”

“You know I’m only worried about you, mate.”

“Yeah, I know,” Sirius sighed again, more heavily. “I know. I just wish you didn’t have to be.”

“You’re my brother, Siri. My baby brother. I am always going to worry about you,” James smiled.

“Four months,” Sirius shook his head. “I am four months younger than you.”

“And four inches shorter. Baby.” James laughed at Sirius’ expression of outrage. “No need to look like that,” he said, grinning. “You might still grow a little bit.”

“Fuck off.”

 

* * *

 

It’d been a long time since Remus had had a boyfriend, and he found hat he was quite enjoying it. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy having girlfriends; it was more that all of his memories and feelings towards his past relationships were soured by whatever had ended them. There was no past to his relationship with Sirius. It seemed to Remus that it would be impossible for anything to sour what they had. Even now, with Sirius so upset over his uncle, and in need of both space and reassurance in equal measure, Remus found himself doubtful that anything could go wrong. After all, if they could make it through this, they could make it through almost anything. Or so he hoped.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Sirius asked, tracing patterns on Remus’ bare chest.

Remus grinned. “How about a kiss instead?”

“But then I have to _move,_ ” Sirius pouted. “And I’m so comfortable here.”

“You can give me the kiss later,” Remus allowed. “I was just thinking that I like being with you. That you make me happy.”

There was a long silence. So long that Remus started to worry that he’d said something wrong.

“You’re adorable,” Sirius said, eventually. “And I do not understand what you are doing with me, but I’m very glad that you are.”

“I am having an awful lot of fun with the most attractive man in possibly the whole world,” Remus smiled. “And I adore you. So that’s going to have to be enough.”

“It is absolutely enough,” said Sirius, “for now, at least.”

Before Remus could reply, Sirius had moved, quick as a flash, to straddle his hips. Smirking, he leaned down to kiss Remus. All thoughts of what exactly Sirius had meant by ‘for now’ were gone. It was hard to string together rational thought when Sirius Black was naked on top of you. Remus decided that there were better uses of his time in these circumstances. And the sex seemed to be cheering Sirius up no end.

  

* * *

 

 

Friday saw James, Lily, Peter, Remus and Sirius in the pub. Lily was drinking orange juice, which James was glad about. She’s stopped drinking him under the table after the first two weeks she’d been coming to the pub with them, and his ego was a fan of that decision. It allowed him to nurse his pint with dignity, while he kept one eye on Sirius.

“You know, James, you can stop watching Siri like a hawk,” Remus raised an eyebrow. “I’ll buy you another drink if it’ll loosen you up a bit.”

“I am not watching him like a hawk,” James argued, “or like any other kind of bird. I am merely making sure that he doesn’t get hammered again.”

“Remus is doing that too,” Sirius rolled his eyes. “And I can’t stop _him_. So take the night off, you’ve been worrying about me all weeks.

Lily coughed, pointedly. “Remus has been going to see you every day this week,” she pointed out. “I think he might be the one in need of a night off.”

“Trust me, Lils,” James grimaced. “They haven’t been doing a lot in the way of giving emotional support.”

“Well, that’s just untrue.” Sirius shook his head. “Getting my brains shagged out cheers me up enormously.”

“Please stop talking,” Peter pulled a face, “allosexuals are weird and this conversation is gross.”

There was a mumbled round of apologies, and then Peter changed the subject.

“So, Sirius, are you going to stop working at the café?”

“Nah,” Sirius shook his head. “I’m taking some time off, Tom said I could have two weeks off at half pay, and then I’ll go back. I like it, and I need something to do with myself. Although I might quit in September.”

James stared at him, “What?” he demanded, “why? You just said that you liked working there.”

“Well, I do. But I might be going back to uni. It’s not like I can’t afford it. And I liked it, when I was doing it. I may as well,” Sirius shrugged. “I’ve already sent in the application. I did it at the start of January. So I’ll find out if I got in soon.”

James opened his mouth, ready to demand to know why he hadn’t been told about this plan sooner, but was distracted by Lily’s hand on his arm.

“Jamie, come outside for a sec? I need to tell you something.”

Despite the ball of nerves now sitting heavy in his stomach, James nodded. They slipped outside, unnoticed by their friends. It was cold, and their breath fogged the air in front of them. James could feel his heartbeat; he always could when he was nervous. It didn’t help his nerves that Lily wasn’t looking at him.

“So,” she began, “I went to the doctor this morning. She- well, she confirmed something that I was pretty sure about anyway.” James had to resist the urge to interrupt. It would only take that much longer for Lily to find the words if he started talking.

“I’m pregnant,” Lily said, finally looking James in the eyes.

“Pregnant?” James asked, “as in, you’re having a baby and I helped put it there?”

“Well, I’m not sure what else I would have meant,” said Lily.

“We’re having a baby?” James stared.

“If you want to, yes,” Lily nodded. “I’m about eight weeks, the doctor says. So if you don’t want to, there’s still time… I mean, I could-”

“You could have an abortion,” James finished the sentence for her. “Well, I mean- it’s your body, Lils. It’s your choice. But as far as practicality goes… we wouldn’t need to worry about money. Uni might be a hassle, though.”

“I’d need to take a year off, file for an interruption of studies.” Lily nodded, “I’d be willing to do that. Physically, I’m in a good time of life to be having babies. Financially, I have a stupidly rich boyfriend.” She smiled. “And there isn’t anyone I’d rather do this with than you.”

“There isn’t for me, either.” James said, wrapping an arm around her. “And if you want, I can take a year out, too. It’s my kid, after all. I should be there to look after them. And after the first year, we can talk about what comes next.”

Lily smiled up at him, nodding. James couldn’t help but feel proud of himself- he always did when he made Lily smile. And the lack of a lecture on feminism meant that he hadn’t been a wanker, which was always nice.

“So… I think we’re having a baby,” Lily said, still smiling.

“Looks like it.” James agreed, and pulled her in for a kiss.

 

James was buzzing when they returned to the others. He was itching to tell the others, but Lily had sworn him to secrecy. She had insisted that they shouldn’t tell anyone until she was at least ten weeks gone. She had also insisted that he meet her mother as soon as was practically possible, as Skype calls were apparently not a good enough introduction.

“Ah, there you two are,” Sirius said, as they resumed their seats. “Just in time. I was about to invite you all to my uncle’s funeral. It’s next week, on Wednesday.”

“Do we need to go back to London?” James asked, “or somewhere else altogether?”

“London,” Sirius replied. “I’ll pay the travel costs. Although, now that I think about it, I might have inherited an aeroplane, which would mean considerably fewer travel costs. But I will check that with ‘Dromeda.”

“Oh my god,” Remus murmured. “I have a sugar daddy.”

“I am younger than you,” Sirius reminded him. “So… will you come?”

“Of course,” Peter was the first to nod. “I’d do almost anything to avoid talking about the reading I’ve got for next week.”

Laughing, Sirius patted him on the back. “Good man, Pete, good man.”

“Well, you know I’ll come,” Remus said. “Only, will it cause a problem with your family?”

“Nah, only a few of them will be there. Uncle Al was posthumously disowned for leaving me everything. So we should be mostly safe.” Sirius half-smiled. “Every cloud, and all that.”

 

* * *

 

Remus had never been more certain of the fact that he was an awful person. This was not the time to be looking at Sirius and thinking that he wanted to jump him. Although, in his defence, Sirius had quite possibly been born to wear suits. The suit itself had a high, Victorian collar, and was accessorised not with a tie, bit with a cravat. Remus had the strong impression that this was what Oscar Wilde had pictured when he first envisioned Dorian Gray. In comparison, he looked like a teenager who’d borrowed his father’s suit for prom. Which was probably unfair on the suit, whish was only a few months old. He’d bought it for the summer ball, which Lily had insisted they go to. It’d only cost him thirty quid, and, as such, it did not look like the kind of thing worn by a person whose boyfriend owned a plane. Remus was reassured by the fact that Peter’s suit was on a par with his, and that he knew for a fact that Lily had bought her dress in a sale for a fiver. They could be working-class together, he thought.

Nevertheless, he stood with Sirius as they waited for the cars to arrive. The coffin, and two limousines, would be coming to the Potter’s house to collect them and drive them to the cemetery. As the only relatives present, Andromeda and Sirius had invited Ted and Remus to join them in the car intended for the immediate family. Little Nymphadora would be with Mrs. Potter, James, Peter and Lily. James had already taken quite a shine to her, and was trying to occupy her with card tricks. This was failing, as she appeared to have developed a spontaneous crush on Remus.

“Is it just going to be the nine of us?” Ted asked, after a long silence.

“No,” Sirius shook his head. “Some friends of his are meeting us there. And probably a few more Blacks, we sent them invitations. Reg will probably come, he always liked uncle Al.”

“Cissy did, too,” Andromeda said. “I think she’s going to be there. She’s pregnant, you know?”

“Already?” Sirius shook his head. “Well, so long as she doesn’t bring Lucy, we’ll get along famously. Do you know, he bleaches his hair?”

But they never found out if Andromeda knew, because at that moment, the cars arrived.

 

Perhaps twenty people were waiting for them when they arrived at Highgate cemetery. For reasons Remus did not understand, the whole thing was being held outside. The area around the grave had been filled with chairs, only nine of which were unoccupied. As the coffin was taken from the hearse, and laid beside the open grave, they took their seats. Remus held Sirius’ hand, and, if he hadn’t, he probably wouldn’t have noticed the way Sirius reacted to the people sat opposite them. He tensed, just for half a second, and then carried on as if nothing had happened. Remus did not need to wonder who they were. Sirius, it seemed, had his mother’s cheekbones and his father’s jawline. His blue-grey eyes were a mix of the two of them. Beside them sat Regulus, and Remus saw that he and Sirius had the same nose. The rather pregnant blonde woman sat next to Regulus had the cheekbones, too. She, he assumed, was Cissy. Tightening his grip on Sirius’ hand, Remus looked away as he settled into his chair.

 

The whole thing was very typical of Remus’ experience of funerals. Prayers were said, and speeches were made. People he didn’t know talked about a man he’d never met, and they all painted the same picture. Alphard Black had been good, and kind, and clever, and too young to die.

And then it was Sirius’ turn to speak. He made his way to the podium; head held high. Remus thought he looked like a prince: proud, and regal, and above them all.

“We have all suffered a great loss,” Sirius said, in his clearest, most aristocratic tones. “Alphard was a good man. One of the best of us. We’ve all lost a great deal. I know that I have.

“ _Toujors pur_. Always pure. The Black family motto. I asked him once what it meant. It seemed, to an eleven year old, an impossible thing, to be always pure. I didn’t know what purity I was supposed to be striving for. He told me that it meant not to be above everyone else, not to be purer than others, but to be purely ourselves. To live our lives not for those around us, but for ourselves. To strive for betterment. To act with reason and with deliberation. He told me that purity was in the singularity of this focus, the focus to act with honour and integrity.

“I don’t pretend to have understood what he meant by that. I’m nineteen now, and it still doesn’t make an awful lot of sense to me. But what I do know is this: if honour and integrity are what my uncle strove for, then that is what he achieved. He once told me that he would have been proud to be my father. I’ll always regret that I didn’t have time to tell him that I would have been proud to be his son,” there was a brief pause as Sirius’ eyes found his mother’s. “Thank you,” he said, and stepped down from the podium, to a smattering of applause.

He took his seat next to Remus again, wordlessly slipping his hand into Remus’ much larger one. Remus squeezed gently, in what he hoped was a reassuring manner.

“You did brilliantly,” he whispered.

“Yeah,” Sirius smiled, “I know.” and then, much to Remus’ surprise, he kissed him. It was only the briefest brush of lips, but Remus could have sworn it lasted an eternity, with Sirius’ parents’ eyes on them the whole time.

  

* * *

 

 

It was several hours later, after the wake was over, that Sirius finally allowed himself out of what he’d always thought of as ‘perfect son mode’.

“I,” he announced, “am going for a short walk.”

“It’s dark outside,” Mrs. Potter observed, with a frown. “Don’t be long, or I’ll worry.”

“Yes, mum.” Sirius kisses her on the cheek. “I’ll be half an hour, and I’m taking my phone.” And with that, he left.

That was at nine o’clock. It wasn’t until ten thirty, when Sirius had not yet returned, and wasn’t answering his phone, that Nisha Potter called the police. She hadn’t gotten past the operator before James, Remus and Peter were out the door, running down the street, and calling for their friend.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short-ish chapter, only ~2700 words, hence the speedy (for me) update. Still, I hope you enjoy it! I'd love some feedback. Thank you to everyone who has already reviewed. Reviews make my day.

(3 missed calls from: Mummy P)

(9:44pm) (From: Mummy P)

Sirius answer your phone you’re scaring me

(2 missed calls from: Remus)

(9:56pm) (From: Remus)

_Sirius, where are you? Answer your phone. We’re all worried._

(4 missed calls from: Jame)

(10:02pm) (From: Jame)

**_siri where r u??????_ **

(10:03pm) (From: Jame)

**_mate this isnt funny we’re freaking out here_ **

(10:15pm) (From: Remus)

_Sirius, please answer your phone. We need to know if you’re alright._

(1 missed call from: Mummy P)

(10:18pm) (From: Mummy P)

I am going to call the police in ten minutes

(10:29pm) (From: Jame)

**_we r coming 2 look 4 u. mum has called police. if ur not hurt ur in a world of shit._ **

 

* * *

 

 

In the end, it was Peter who found Sirius. It took maybe five minutes. He was slumped against somebody’s garden wall, in the arc of yellowish light cast by the streetlamp. His hair was matted with blood, and he wasn’t moving. His nose looked as if it was broken, and one of his eyes was black and purple from bruising, swollen shut. Peter’s hands were trembling a little bit as he took his phone from his pocket, and called James.

“I’ve found him,” Peter said, without preamble. “I’ve found him. He’s hurt.”

“Fuck- fuck. Fuck, okay. Where are you? I’ll get Remus and we’ll come and find you.” James sounded like he was close to tears. “We’ll come and find him.”

“We’re on Alma road,” Peter told him. “I’m calling an ambulance,” and he hung up just in time to hear James swearing into the phone.

  

* * *

 

 

Remus rode in the back of the ambulance with Sirius. James and Peter had gone back to the house to tell Mrs. Potter what was going on, and to get Sirius some clean clothes.  Remus couldn’t help but feel that he wasn’t the right person to be in the ambulance. He had no family connection, but then, he supposed, neither did James or Mrs. Potter. Still, boyfriend of two months didn’t seem like a very good reason for the hospital to let him be there. It’d only been at James’ insistence that the paramedics had let Remus go along. He’d reasoned with them that Sirius would need a familiar face when he regained consciousness, and so they had reluctantly agreed.

As it turned out, they needn’t have worried. Sirius did not regain consciousness for over two hours.

 

* * *

 

The first thing Sirius saw when he woke up was Mrs. Potter hovering over him, looking tearful. He tried to blink, and found that one of his eyes wouldn’t move, which was concerning. He could feel the tell-tale tenderness of a split lip, and from the looks of concern on the faces of his friends, and the white hospital walls, he could deduce that it wasn’t the only injury.

“How did I get here?” he asked, sitting up.

“We were hoping you could tell us,” James sighed, and adjusted his pillows to make sitting easier. “Pete found you unconscious.”

“Never mind what happened,” Mrs. Potter shook her head. “That can wait. The Chief Inspector is a personal friend; he’ll understand that there are more important things. Are you in pain, Sirius dear?”

“I- no, no.” Sirius shook his head, and that _did_ hurt. “Yes. Now I am.”

“I’ll fetch the nurse,” Lily said, standing up. “Now that you’re conscious they can set you up with a morphine pump.”

“James, I am in love with your girlfriend.”

“I’m feeling less and less sorry for you by the second,” James grinned.

“Well, I’ve had worse,” Sirius said, and then hesitated. “Um… actually, what do I have?”

“Shallow head wound, from hitting the ground, they think. A black eye, a split lip, bruises to your chest and stomach, probable concussion, and um… fractures in your cheekbones.” Remus rattled off the list, grimacing. “We were worried sick, Siri…”

“I’ll be okay,” Sirius reached out, and, to his relief, Remus seemed to know that he wanted his hand. Their fingers laced together, and Sirius smiled. Remus very nearly managed one in return. Mrs. Potter looked as if she were about to burst into tears.

“Oh, Sirius,” she sighed, taking his other hand, “sweetheart, I was so worried. So, so worried. Don’t you dare ever do this to me again, you hear? You are my son, and I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you.”

Sirius felt an awful lot like crying at that. He looked up at her, and smiled. It wouldn’t do to maker her think she’d upset him, after all.

“Mrs. P, you don’t need to worry about me,” he said. “You really don’t, I promise.”

“I liked ‘mum’ more than I like ‘Mrs. P’.” was all she said. Sirius flushed, and blinked the one eye he could actually move. He would not cry, he would not.

“Sorry, mum,” he said, and Mrs. Potter laughed.

“I really am the least favourite son now, aren’t I?” James sighed theatrically, and smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Yeah, I think you might be,” Sirius found that he too was forcing his smile. It was difficult to be genuine about it when he could feel the concern of everyone in the room weighing him down. He was, therefore, fortunate that Lily returned with the nurse. To his relief, she insisted that, as it was nearly midnight, they all return home and come back during visiting hours the next day. With the aid of the morphine, it took him less than ten minutes to fall asleep. He had never been more grateful for it.

 

* * *

 

“Master Sirius, if you wake up, you can have some of my biscuits.”

“Technically, Masie, that’s Your Grace now.” Sirius replied, sitting up. It had taken him a few moments to work out where he was. Maisie’s presence had thrown him; he’d thought he was at home. But he’d been having scans in hospital before he fell back asleep. If it ever came up, he thought he’d blame his confusion on the fact that he’d been asleep.

“Your Grace?” Maisie asked, frowning.

“I’m the Duke of Northumberland now,” Sirius struggled upright. To his delight, movement hurt a lot less than in had the day before. “Which I am fairly sure means that I can have all the biscuits I want, whenever I want.”

“You keep telling yourself that, Master Sirius,” Maisie rolled her eyes, and set the plate down on his bedside table. “I won’t argue with you when you’re ill.”

“So you’re keeping the title?” It was James, who Sirius had not previously noticed. He had been extremely distracted by the biscuits.

“Oh yeah,” Sirius said, darkly. “Oh I _so_ fucking am. After last night, there’s no way in hell that I’m giving them anything back.”

“Last night?” James dragged a chair over to Sirius’ bed, and flopped down in it. “So you remember what happened? The doctors told us yesterday that you might not.”

“Oh, I remember. I absolutely fucking remember,” Sirius tightened his grip on the blankets, in lieu of punching the wall. His knuckles were already split, no sense in doing himself any more damage. “Lucius, Rodolphus and Rabastan were waiting around just down the road. They dragged me off and kicked the shit out of me.”

James did not say anything. He looked a bit like he was going to be sick, or like he was going to kill somebody. Sirius did not know which. Fortunately, Maisie seemed to recognise this too.

“Master James, why don’t you just step outside with me for a moment?” she asked, hauling him to his feet. “We’ll get you some tea from the little shop. Mrs. Potter can come in while we’re outside.” And she dragged a rather shell-shocked James from the room, before he could say another word. Sirius could hear him protesting as she marched him down the corridor.

“Sirius, dear?” Mrs. Potter poked her head around the door. “Would you like me to come in?”

“Yes, please,” Sirius nodded, and gestured to James’ chair. “I’d rather not sit here alone.”

“Well, your friends will be here soon, but Lily wasn’t feeling well, so the boys offered to let James and I come along ahead and have some time with just the family. Only Maisie wanted you to have the biscuits, and it’s her day off, so she’s just stopping by…” Mrs. Potter trailed off, and laughed. “Oh, look at me. I’m just rambling away at you.”

“I don’t mind,” Sirius smiled. “I really don’t mind, mum. It’s nice. What’s wrong with Lily?”

“She was just feeling nauseous this morning, and then she was ill,” Mrs. Potter shook her head, smiled. “It’s nothing, I’m sure.”

“Mmm,” Sirius nodded. He wasn’t sure that he did agree with that assessment of it being nothing. He was pretty sure that nausea first thing in the morning was a pretty significant symptom of pregnancy. But he was also pretty sure that it wasn’t his place to bring it up. “So… when should I expect them? Only, you know me, mum, I don’t want to be looking like death when my boyfriend gets here.”

Mrs. Potter laughed. “Oh, I knew you’d say that. I’ve brought you some things from home, dear. Should I call a nurse to help you get dressed?”

“Mum, I’m bruised, not- I don’t know, paralysed or something.” Sirius shook his head. “Really, I’m fine. They did all kind of scans this morning, and I’m going to be totally fine. Really lucky, they said.” He’d been surprised, actually, the amount of pain he was in, he’d have expected to have something properly broken.

“But what about the fractures, sweetheart?” Mrs. Potter frowned. “What did they say?”

“Ah.” Sirius swallowed. He’d really hoped to avoid this conversation, although logically, he’d known it was impossible. “Well, um, I’m having surgery the day after tomorrow. They’re going to put metal plates in to help everything heal straight. But other than that, I’ll be fine.”

“Oh, Sirius,” Mrs. Potter threw her arms around him, and hugged him tightly. “Oh, sweetheart. Surgery- that’s… that’s awful. Oh, sweetheart, who did this to you?”

“Nobody you know, mum, nobody you know.” and, technically, it was true. She’d never met Lucius, or the Lestrange brothers. They’d been in their last year of school when James and Sirius had started. “Just some guys picking a fight. I think they’d have taken my wallet and stuff if I hadn’t fought back, you know? It was just a mugging.” That _was_ a lie. Sirius knew very well that they’d definitely not been trying to mug him, but to punish him for his insolence in keeping what he’d inherited from his uncle. They’d told him as much.

“We should go to the police,” Mrs. Potter sighed. “You were attacked, Sirius. Those people could hurt someone else.”

“It was dark, I couldn’t pick them out of a line-up if you paid me. I really don’t want to have to give endless statements and interviews for nothing,” more lies. Sirius pushed away the guilt. It would be better, in the end, if Mrs. Potter didn’t know what had happened. She’d sleep easier at night, thinking that he was safe from his family.

“Well, it’s your choice,” Mrs. Potter sighed again. “And I won’t argue with you. Now, should I leave you alone to get dressed?”

“I won’t be long,” Sirius promised. “Can you get James to come back in when he gets back from getting tea? I have an extraordinarily impressive bruise in an indecent place and I want to show him.”

Mrs. Potter shook her head, and laughed. “You boys are ridiculous.”

 

* * *

 

 “You know, Lily, I’m not stupid.” Remus had been holding her hair back for half an hour now, as Lily threw up first her breakfast, and then several glasses of water.

“I don’t remember saying that you were.” Lily glared at him, and pulled away, standing up.

“No, but you didn’t tell me that you were pregnant, either, so I don’t think that’s the omission I’m bothered about.” Remus raised an eyebrow. He was half-hoping that Lily was going to deny it, but she just stared.

“How the fuck did you know?” she demanded, flushing.

“You’ve got morning sickness, Evans! You’ve got morning sickness, and you haven’t stolen my chocolate in two months,” Remus sighed. “How long have you known?”

“Only a few days. I’m not- I’m only nine weeks, I didn’t want to tell anyone but James until after ten.” Lily sighed, slammed the toilet shut, and sat down. “You have to keep it to yourself. His mum doesn’t know yet. He hasn’t even met my mum, except for an awkward Skype conversation weeks ago. Please, Rem?”

“Of course I won’t tell anyone, Lils,” Remus sighed. “You’re keeping it, though?”

“Yeah,” Lily nodded. “I’m going to be a mother.”

Remus pulled her up, and hugged her. “You’re going to be amazing at it.”

 

* * *

 

“Mum said something about a bruise?” James said, as he entered the room. “Although I warn you, looking at your injuries might not be the best thing for my temper.”

“Yeah, I lied,” Sirius said, cheerfully. “I just needed a minute alone with you. You can’t tell mum that I know who it was, and you need to get Maisie to keep it secret, too.”

“And why the fuck would I do that? They deserve to be in a world of shit for what they did to you.” James shook his head. “Siri, come on. You can’t just let them get away with it.”

“I really can. Anyway, I can piss them off by taking the money and the title and everything they want and doing whatever the hell I like with it.” Sirius shrugged. “I’m going to donate to charity like a madman. I’m going to keep the title and be an artist like I always wanted and humiliate them by making them watch as I do nothing of merit with what they want.”

“Sirius that’s not-”

“Not what?” Sirius interrupted. “Not good enough? It’s plenty good enough for me and if you hadn’t noticed, I’m the one in hospital.”

“If you don’t tell mum, I will.” James snapped. “She’ll make you go to the police.”

“I told mum I wouldn’t know them if I saw them again. I told her I didn’t want to go through reliving it all for the police, and she accepted that.” Sirius glared at James. “And I swear to God, if you tell her about this, then I will tell her that she’s about to be a grandmother.”

James froze. “You- how? How did you know about that?”

“I guessed,” Sirius sighed. “Throwing up in the morning? It’s not exactly a normal thing. I guessed.”

“I was going to tell you, just as soon as Lily said it was okay.” James ran a hand through his hair. “Don’t tell mum. Please.”

“I promise if you do.”

“Then I promise,” James shook his head. “I’m sorry I was a dick about it.”

“Yeah,” Sirius sighed. “Me too.”

 

* * *

 

 

Remus hated hospitals, and he hated the sight of Sirius, bruised and bandaged, lying in one of the beds. It was something of a relief to see that Sirius was fully dressed, and his hair brushed. Remus didn’t think he could have stood seeing him in a hospital gown again.

“So, do I look too awful?” Sirius said, by way of a greeting.

“I’ve seen worse.” Remus bent down, kissed him as gently as he could. “Anyway, I don’t just love you for your pretty face.”

Sirius stared. It took Remus a few moments to realise why exactly this was. “You- what?” he asked, grey eyes going improbably wide. “Did you just- did you say what I think you did?”

“I- um… yes?” Remus could feel himself going bright red. “It, uh, it slipped out…”

“So… you don’t mean it?” Remus had never seen anyone look crestfallen before, but Sirius was the very picture of the word.

“I didn’t say that,” Remus shook his head. “I didn’t say that at all.”

“Then you do mean it?” Sirius asked, hopeful. “Do you?”

“I do,” Remus said, nodding, “I do. I do mean it. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Sirius said, pulling him down for a kiss. “So, you know. Good job that we got that out of the way.”

“Isn’t it?” Remus said, with a smile, and kissed him again.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at this look how FAST I'm updating. I am delighted with myself.

Sirius wasn’t back in Glasgow until two weeks after his operation. The others had been forced to return without him, as they had classes to attend, and neither Peter nor Lily had been able to get more time off work. When his plane touched down in Glasgow Airport, he was fully expecting to be hailing a taxi, and making his own way home. He was, therefore, very surprised to find Remus waiting for him. Private jet owners had their own departures and arrivals lounges, and it was there that Remus was waiting.

“You know,” he said, after they’d finished their greetings, and Sirius was done expressing his surprise that Remus was there at all, “I think getting your own place to wait for your plane is a little extreme. I mean… you own an aeroplane. Why can’t you just wait on it? I don’t understand why you even need a waiting room?”

“But Remus, what if my private jet isn’t good enough for waiting on, hmm? What then?” Sirius laughed, and shook his head. “Nah, it’s stupid. I’ll probably sell the plane, to be honest. I don’t think I’ll ever need it enough for it to be worth owning.”

“But it’s worth a fortune!”

“Exactly. When my uncle bought it, it cost half of his money, Rem. _Half._ He only bought it because he was sick of plane food. I don’t particularly care about plane food. I can sell it, and give the money to charity, and that can, you know, _help_ ,”

Remus smiled, and draped his arm around Sirius’ shoulders. “I hadn’t thought of it like that. You’re right, that’s a better use of it than flying us around a few times a year. Now, I’m taking you home. James was going to come, but he’s busy. He’s meeting Mrs. Evans today.”

Sirius grimaced. “I wish him luck. I’ve never dated anyone, but I hear meeting the parents is terrifying.”

“Well, you’re going to have to find out sooner or later,” Remus raised an eyebrow. “My mum’s dying to meet you.” 

 

* * *

 

 

It wasn’t meeting Lily’s mum in person that had James nervous. It was the fact that he would also be telling her that he and Lily were expecting a baby. Lily had tried to reassure him, but somehow, being told that her sister had just had her first child, who had been named something awful like Duncan, or Dudley, wasn’t making him feel any better. All it had done was make James very aware of the fact that they didn’t have any ideas for names. Still, James thought he got through picking her up at the train station very well. Lily certainly didn’t seem anywhere near as tense as he felt, which probably meant that he was doing everything right. They went to the botanical gardens. Mrs. Evans was, it seemed, a keen gardener. James thought that this probably accounted for the names of her daughters.

“It is a lovely place,” Mrs. Evans was saying, looking around her. “I am surprised that they have managed to grow so much so far in the north. The climate here is not very kind to the plants, I would think.”

“It’s all a mystery to me,” James said, cheerfully. “I’m a dreadful gardener, I’m afraid. My dad used to despair of me loudly and often. But then, the man had an obsession with daffodils. He was firmly convinced that we should celebrate our Welsh heritage.”

“He sounds like an interesting man. It is a shame about his passing.” Mrs. Evans patted James on the arm. “I think he and my Harry would have been the best of friends.”

James blinked. “Harry? Your husband was called _Harry_?”

“Henry,” Mrs. Evans smiled. “His name was Henry, but Harry was for short, you see?”

James laughed, which earned him an odd look from both Evans women present. “That,” he said, “is an almighty coincidence. My dad was called Harold, only everyone called _him_ Harry for short, too.”

There followed an awful lot of discussion about the enormity of this coincidence, and a great deal of laughter, although it wasn’t exactly funny. James supposed that they, like he, were simply laughing because they couldn’t find a better way to express how goddam weird they were finding the whole thing. It wasn’t until much later that James realised that he at last had a baby name.

 

Eventually, it became time to tell Mrs. Evans the news. James took them all for lunch, it only seemed fair, and Lily had reasoned that a scene could not be made in a restaurant. When James had asked if Lily expected her mother to make a scene, she’d only shrugged. Apparently, the reaction to an unplanned pregnancy wasn’t easy to guess. The fact that it only missed the “teen pregnancy” bracket because Lily’s twentieth birthday had been at the end of January probably didn’t help matters. James hadn’t stopped being grateful that Lily hadn’t drunk anything on her birthday because she had to be at her work placement the next day. He didn’t like to think what Lily’s alcohol tolerance would do to an unborn baby.

“Matka,” Lily began. “James and I have news.”

“Oh, well, it must be serious,” Mrs. Evans frowned. “You only use Polish when you’re really worried about making me angry.” James forced himself not to smile. It wouldn’t do to look like he wasn’t taking this seriously. But he couldn’t help finding it a little funny that he did the same to his mother, only with Hindi or Marathi, not Polish.

“It’s- mum, we’ve- we’ve really thought about what we’re going to do… we’re doing what’s right for us, we really are.”

“Lily, sloneczko, you haven’t yet told me what it is,” Mrs. Evans reached out and patted her daughter’s hand. “You know, you can tell me anything, anything you want.”

“We’re having a baby,” James blurted the words out, without meaning to. Both women stared at him, and he could feel himself blushing. “I- sorry. I did mean to break it more gently than that… but…. You know. I panicked.”

And then, to James’ enormous surprise, Mrs. Evans began to laugh. “Oh,” she said, wiping away an honest-to-god tear of laughter, “oh, but this one is sweet, Lily.”

“Mum, we just told you that I am pregnant, and you’re commenting on the fact that you think James is _sweet_?” Lily looked gobsmacked. “Really?”

“What would you rather I do? Should I shout? Should I claim to be disappointed with you? Lily, you are my little girl, I know you. You would not be telling me if you were not sure that you had found the right person to be doing this with. And because I have only just met him I know that this was not on purpose,” Mrs. Evans shook her head. “Sloneczko, you know I will be here for anything you need. Just tell me, you have thought this through, yes?”

“We have, mum. We really have,” Lily nodded. “We’re both taking a year out of uni to start with, and then we’re going to work the rest out from there. We’ve got it all sorted out.”

“Then there is nothing more that I can be saying to you,” Mrs. Evans smiled at her daughter, and then turned to James. “To you, I can be saying many things. My Lily is a bright, amazing, wonderful girl, and she deserves nothing less than your best. If you leave her alone in this I will be helping her to hide your body, yes?”

“Ma’am,” James said, flushing. “I would do anything at all for Lily. She is the love of my life. The only person I could ever love as much as I do her is our child. If I fail her in this, I will quite happily present myself for execution without protest.”

“Goodness,” Lily said, laughing. “That was so melodramatic that Sirius would have thought it was understated.”

 

* * *

 

Sirius stared at James, a forkful of pasta halfway to his mouth. He had half expected this, if he was being honest, but it was still thoroughly bizarre to encounter.

“Say that again,” he ordered, now pointing the fork at James, in what he hoped was an imperious and commanding manner.

“I’m going to propose to Lily,” James repeated. “Just as soon as we’ve told mum about the baby.”

“Jamie, it’s twenty fifteen, not nineteen fifteen. You don’t have to be married to have a kid anymore.”

“I’m not doing it because of the baby.” James sighed, and put down his own knife and fork. “I’m doing it because I love Lily, and I wanted to marry her one day anyway, but now seems like it might be a good time because, you know, _we are having a child_ , and if what’s mine is hers then that’s probably for the best.”

“And what about her student loans?” Sirius asked. “She’ll suddenly be assessed on your wealth, Mr. Custom Jaguar _._ ”

 “It won’t matter, because all my money will be _our_ money, and she won’t need a loan,” James shrugged. “Anyway, I didn’t tell you what I’m going to do so you could quiz me on how much I’ve thought about it. I wanted to warn you that if she says yes, Lily’ll be moving in with us next year. And I want you to be my best man.”

“You… oh, James…” Sirius stared at his friend. “You didn’t want it to look like you were kicking me out.”

“Yeah,” James exhaled heavily. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

“I can afford my own place, if you want to have your married paradise. The baby’s going to need a room, it can have mine, and I’ll rent myself a place.” Sirius smiled, and, to his surprise, it wasn’t even a little forced. “You two won’t want me around, and I don’t want to be in a flat with a new-born baby, if I’m honest.”

“Well, if you’re sure, then okay,” James grinned. “There was something else I wanted your help with, though.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Help me pick the ring?”

 

Two men going ring shopping did not raise as many eyebrows as Sirius had thought it would. He and James went to what felt like every jewellery shop in the city. Sirius had never realised quite how many jewellery shops there _were_ in Glasgow, and James had dragged him around what felt like every single one of them.

“Surely you’ve found a ring you like by now?” Sirius asked, for what he was willing to admit was probably the hundredth time. “How hard can it be? Just get something with a whopping great diamond in a pretty setting.”

“Well, for starters, I want something with an emerald, you know, bring out her eyes. And second, I don’t want just _anything_. I want it to be something pretty.”

“She won’t be able to wear it at work if she’s a nurse,” Sirius pointed out. “I’m just saying.”

“Well, then it’ll be something special to wear when she’s not working.” James shrugged, seemingly unfazed by Sirius’ objections. “If she even says yes.”

“If she doesn’t, she’s an idiot, and my fifteen year old self will overtake me and give her the bollocking of her life,” Sirius said, and then promptly wished that he hadn’t.

James stared at him. “What?”

Sirius could feel himself going bright red. “Nothing.”

“Ohh, oh no,” James grinned. “Oh no, you’re not getting away that easily.”

“When I was fifteen, I had the biggest crush on you.” Sirius glared at him, defiant.

“Well, that’s mightily awkward,” James sighed. “When I was fifteen, I had a crush on _you_.”

“Please tell me you’re joking?”

“Nope.”

Sirius considered for a moment. “We’re never talking about this again,” he decided. “I’m taking you to the next jewellery shop on the list, and you’re buying your girlfriend an engagement ring, and we’re never talking about this again because it’s going to be enormously uncomfortable, and a little bit weird.”

James nodded. “Fair enough,” he said.

 

In the end, they found the ring in an antique jewellery shop. It was, Sirius was willing to admit, beautiful. The band was made of Welsh gold, and into it was set seven diamonds in a ‘v’ shape on either side of one large diamond, surrounded by a ring of emeralds. It was, Sirius had to admit, quite beautiful.

“Do you think Lily will like it?” James asked, for the tenth time.

“I think she’ll love it,” Sirius said, for the eleventh time, as he had said it once before James had even asked, upon first noticing the ring.

“Do you think she’ll say yes?”

“We’ve been here before, James. About half an hour ago. It was supremely uncomfortable. Let’s not do it again. You know I’ll think she’ll say yes. You love her, she loves you, and unless she’s got any strenuous objections against the institution of marriage, then I think you’re probably going to be fine,” Sirius rolled his eyes. “Now can we please go home? I’ve got dinner to cook and then I need an early night. I’m back at work tomorrow.”

* * *

 

 

A schedule had been worked out between James, Remus and Peter. It coordinated the three of them meeting Sirius after work and walking him back to his and James’ apartment. In Peter’s case, this often resulted in a carpooling effort. The whole point was that Sirius wouldn’t notice. Remus thought that, after a week, it was going quite well. It was his turn, for which he was grateful. It wasn’t that he was a jealous person or anything, he just had a feeling that it was slightly less suspicious if he, Sirius’ boyfriend, was the one walking him places. And James was adamant that if Sirius would flip his shit if he knew that his friends were too worried about him getting beaten up to let him go anywhere alone. So, for the second time that week, Remus found himself in James and Sirius’ place.

“So…” Sirius dragged the word out, grinning. “We’re all alone. I am free from bruises and injuries. What say you about adjourning to my bedroom?”

“You,” Remus said, “are incorrigible.” He bent down to pick up the pile of post on the doormat. “At least deal with this first.”

“Ughh, I was going to pretend not to have seen it. We don’t have long until James gets back and he does like it sorted into piles, and that takes _time_. Time that could be better spent without our clothes on.” Sirius took the stack of letters from Remus mid-complaint, and began to sort them into two stacks. The pile for James was considerably smaller. “All of this stuff is legal bullshit and letters of condolence. James will read it all to me, this does not need doing now.”

Remus arched one eyebrow. “Huh,” he said. “So why are you sorting it now?”

“Well, you know,” Sirius paused, with the last envelope still in his hands. “You said to. And I’ve been waiting for a bank statement. Although I suppose I don’t really need to check them obsessively anymore…”

“You’re holding one now,” Remus pointed out. “You can go ahead and open it if you want to. I’m going to make myself a cup of tea.”

“I feel like I should be doing that, but as I’ve just finished a six hour shift of making cups of bloody tea, go right ahead.” Sirius kissed Remus on the cheek. “Tea and sugar in the cupboard over the dishwasher, milk in the fridge, mugs in the second cupboard to the left of the tea.”

“Right you are.” Remus said, and departed to the kitchen. He found what he needed, and set it out on the counters while the kettle boiled. Unfortunately, he had severely underestimated the amount of time it took a kettle to boil. Still waiting, he wandered back into the living room, to where Sirius had flopped down onto the sofa. “I came to ask if you also wanted tea,” Remus said, sitting down next to him. “I put way more water than I needed to in the kettle.”

“Well, if tea is happening, then why not?” Sirius said, with a look that Remus felt accurately conveyed his desire to be doing activities that were rather more indecent than tea drinking.

“Tea would be nice, and then everything else after.” Remus said, smiling. “You sorted your post because I said to, you can wait fifteen minutes for me to have a cup of tea because I said so, too.”

Sirius pouted. “Oh, very well then,” he said. “I’ll make the tea, then.” And with that, he stood up, and made his way to the kitchen. Not for the first time, Remus thought that Sirius moved his hips rather more than any man needed to. But then, he supposed, with jeans that tight, it was probably the only way to walk. While he waited for Sirius to return with the tea, he glanced around the room, for something to look at. Unfortunately, minimalist furniture was not the most inspiring sight, and Remus’ eyes fell to the bank statement lying open on the table. He didn’t think he’d ever seen so many zeroes in one place. And next to a week’s worth of minimum wage work in a coffee shop, it looked even more astounding.

“Shit,” Remus breathed.

“That was pretty much what I thought,” Sirius said, as he set Remus’ mug of tea down on top of the statement. “Ridiculous, isn’t it?”

“I mean- I know there was a lot of money, but…” in the absence of the right words, Remus gave a low whistle.

“Uncle Al was the oldest son,” Sirius shrugged. “He inherited most of the family fortune. It’s been inheritance taxed twice, but there’s still a fuckton left over.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Remus raised his eyebrows, because he wasn’t quite sure what else to do. “Would that be a metric fuckton or an imperial fuckton?”

* * *

It was to Lily and James’ advantage that it takes time to sell a private jet. Having a friend who owned one made it a great deal easier to get to and from London, and a great deal more enjoyable. It took an hour and twenty minutes, and the jet had a bedroom. And so they exited the plane looking rather more dishevelled than they had when they’d boarded it. Jeremy was waiting for them, with the car.

“Jeremy!” James said, beaming. “Jeremy, take us home, would you? Not even via anywhere, just home.”

“Straight home, sir?” Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “That’s not like you. Just let me get the bags, and we’ll be off.”

“I’ll give you a hand,” James said, putting his own, frankly enormous, suitcase into the boot. “Seeing as you have to do this again tomorrow, with Sirius.”

“Why isn’t he coming back with you?” Jeremy asked, as he loaded in Lily’s suitcase.

“Oh, something about work,” James shrugged.

“I think he was arranging time off for the Easter holidays.” Lily said. “I can’t quite remember.”

“Yeah, something like that,” James nodded. “He asked me to apologise for him, what with you having to come all the way out here twice in a week, but he couldn’t get away any earlier.”

“It’s my job, sir, I don’t really mind.” Jeremy said, opening the door for them. “Mrs. Potter wanted you there in time for dinner, so we’d best be off now, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.” James and Lily got into the car. “Drive on, then.”

 

Lily felt sick. It was getting difficult to tell if it was with nerves, or with morning sickness. She felt like vomiting half the time now, and although her doctor had prescribed her an anti-emetic, it wasn’t helping much. She’d already lost more weight than she could really have afforded to, and her doctor had made it clear that if the vomiting didn’t stop soon, or if it got any worse, she would have to go to hospital for an IV drip. She told herself that she was worrying about that, rather than about Mrs. Potter’s reaction to her impending status as a grandmother. James seemed perfectly relaxed; Lily was well aware of the fact that it was her hand that was sweating, not his. Still, this time, they had resolved that they would not blurt it out over dinner, but wait until afterwards, when things seemed suitably relaxed. James had been adamant that they tell his mother as soon as possible after that, which might have been why, when the pudding was cleared away, Lily felt her nerves return with a vengeance.

“So, my dears,” Mrs. Potter said, smiling at them. “Why the urgency? I thought you’d have come back tomorrow, with Sirius.”

“We, um, we wanted to talk to you alone actually, mum,” James shifted in his chair, reaching for Lily’s hand beneath the table. She took it gratefully, forcing a smile.

“Goodness, you’re making this sound rather dire.” Mrs. Potter surveyed them with concern. “Is everything quite alright?”

“I’m suspending my studies for a year,” James said, and Lily was starting to get the impression that he had a habit of stating dramatic pieces of information when under pressure.

“You- what?” Mrs. Potter frowned. “James. Why would you do that? I thought you were happy with your course, that you were enjoying it…”

“I am, mum, I really am. It’s just that something’s come up, and Lily and I, we’ve decided that the best way to deal with it is for us both to take a year off, and deal with it together.”

“What could have come up that would necessitate- ah,” Mrs. Potter cut herself off, smiling. “I am going to be a grandmother?”

Lily nodded, finally finding her voice. “Yes,” she said. “In about seven months. It’s due in August.”

“It?” Mrs. Potter asked, arching her eyebrows. “You don’t know if you’re expecting a boy or a girl?”

“No, not yet,” Lily sighed. “I won’t know until the next scan, or so they tell me.”

“Well, you know, anything you need financially, we’ll cover. I’m sure James has told you this, but we’re discussing my first grandchild. I’d like to help, where I can.”

“So, you’re not angry?” James looked surprised. “I thought you’d be furious…”

“Well, I wouldn’t describe myself as delighted,” Mrs. Potter rolled her eyes. “But I’m hardly going to throw you out of the house over it. James, you’re my son. I support you. It’s my job as your mother. And I can’t think of anybody I’d rather see as the mother of my grandchildren than you, Lily dear.”

Lily blushed. “Thank you, Mrs. P.”

“Enough of that, you had better call me mum now. You’re part of the family now, I’m afraid. You’re thoroughly stuck with us. Does your mother know?”

“What?” Lily was momentarily nonplussed. “Oh. Oh, yes, she does. We told her a fortnight ago, when she came to visit me.”

“We’d have told you sooner, but we wanted to wait for it to be more than ten weeks, and then we thought it was probably a face-to-face conversation, you know?” James looked like a child that had been summoned to the headmaster’s office. “I’m sorry it took us so long.”

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that you told me, and that you’re sure about that.” Mrs. Potter smiled at her son, and reached across the table for his free hand. “I’m here for whatever you need, you know that, don’t you?”

“’Course I do, mum.”

 

* * *

  

Lily was only in London for two days. On the first, the day on which Sirius was due to arrive himself, James took Lily into London, via tube. He spent the whole time looking profoundly uncomfortable, and it was only much later that Lily worked out why. Unusually both for March, and for England, it was nearly twenty degrees. Lily was starting to think that she’d never be cool again; after the drizzle, grey skies, and winds of the last few weeks, the heat felt oppressive and unbearable. James bought them a picnic hamper in Harrods, which Lily thought was extravagant, but she didn’t protest. From there, they made their way to Hyde Park, where they sat, on a checked blanket. The hamper even had plates, cutlery, and glasses.

“This,” Lily said, taking a sip of her lemonade, “is the fanciest picnic I’ve ever been on.”

“Well, you know, I thought I’d celebrate our last bit of freedom before exams,” James grinned, and kissed her. “Scotch egg?”

“Mm, please. And I’d like some of those amazingly tiny sandwiches.” Lily couldn’t help but feel a little spoiled. James hadn’t let her see how much the basket had cost, insisting that it was his treat, but she knew it’d been an unreasonable amount for food, even food this good.

“So, Lily…” James turned to her, shifting a little so that he was on one knee. “I brought you here because I wanted to- I wanted to do something special. Because, um… I have something to ask you.”

It was about then that Lily worked out exactly what was going on. With great difficulty, she kept her expression neutral. “Oh?” she asked.

“Lily Evans,” James began. “I love you. You are an amazing, strong, intelligent, and beautiful woman. I don’t quite know what I did to deserve the second and third chances you gave me when I was being a dick, but I am so, so glad that I got them. You are the love of my life. There won’t ever be anyone else for me, and I’m glad about that, too. I don’t want to love anyone else the way I love you, not ever. So…” James reached into his pocket, and drew out a tiny black ring box. He flipped it open, and held it out to Lily. “Will you marry me?” he asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay please don't hate me for that cliffhanger. If you must, leave me a review. If you don't hate me, review anyway.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have had hideous writer's block, hence the delay in this chapter, and it being such a short one. I'm hoping the next ones will come much easier, although from now on, I'm expecting them to be between 2k and 3k each, as we are nearing the end of the story.

James felt as if he’d been kneeling for a long time, although he knew that it’d been two minutes at most. He looked up at Lily, heart hammering in his chest, and she smiled down at him.

“Will I marry you?” she repeated. “Oh, James, as if you had to ask.” She leant down, and kissed him. “Of course I will. I love you. I love you very, very much.”

“I believe it’s traditional to ask, you know,” James said, slipping the ring onto Lily’s finger. “It’d be awfully rude for me to just assume that you wanted to be my wife.”

“But Lily Potter does have a lovely ring to it,” she smiled, and kissed him again. “And speaking of lovely rings, this one is beautiful…”

“Sirius helped pick it,” James said, and then promptly looked as if he regretted saying it. Lily laughed, shaking her head.

“You’re adorable, you know. I’ll have to tell him that he did a good job. Now, future husband, I would like another one of those magnificent scotch eggs.”

 

* * *

 

Sirius found that he was almost disappointed when nobody but Jeremy was there to meet him at the airport. He’d gotten so used to his friends walking or driving him everywhere that travelling alone had felt utterly bizarre.  He wasn’t stupid. He’d worked out that he was being escorted everywhere because James was worried about him. It was a phenomenon that Sirius was accustomed to. James had been doing similar things since they were fourteen, and he’d thought that Sirius wasn’t eating. On that occasion, James had made sure that at least one of their friends was present at mealtimes when he wasn’t, to make sure that Sirius was getting enough to eat. This had gone on until Sirius had shared the information that he’d found the kitchens, and was skipping classes to go there, chat to the cooks, and steal food. He had expected James’ paranoia to be at its height now that Sirius was back in London, the place he’d been attacked, but apparently, that wasn’t the case. Sirius tried not to feel a little jealous of Lily. He’d gotten over his crush on James a long time ago, he just wasn’t quite used to sharing him yet. He hadn’t quite worked out if he minded yet.

It was something of a disappointment to find that James and Lily were elsewhere when he returned home, as well. Mrs. Potter was there to greet him, with much fussing, and hugging, but James was nowhere to be found. Which Sirius thought served him right, when he complained about being the last to know.

“Mum,” Sirius said, just as she was about to leave his room. “Hang on a mo, will you?”

“Don’t tell me that you’re also expecting a baby,” Mrs. Potter sighed, and took a seat on the edge of the bed.

“No, no children forthcoming,” Sirius smiled, and sat down next to her. “I lost my job, though. Fired, because I am no longer a reliable employee.” Sirius forced a smile. “Nothing to worry about, really. I don’t need it anymore.”

“But you liked it,” Mrs. Potter sighed, and hugged him. “You had fun working there, didn’t you?”

“It was where I met Remus,” Sirius said. “And I love him, and now it feels like I can’t really… like I can’t go back to the place where I met him. Because it would be really bloody awkward, going there for coffee.” 

Mrs. Potter pulled him a little closer. “The important thing, dearest, is that you love him. What matters are the memories between you and him. You don’t need the place where it happened.”

“It’d be nice, though.”

“Darling, you can’t have everything in life. But you can have the delight of not telling James. I’ll drop it into conversation for you later, and forbid him to ask you too many questions about it,” Mrs. Potter smiled.

  

* * *

 

 

James and Lily had gone straight from Hyde Park to the Mandarin Oriental. Lily had been well aware that it was one of London’s most expensive hotels, so she’d looked away when James, grinning like the cat who’d got the cream, had approached the desk, and requested their best available suite for one night. She’d seen the manager’s eyes widen when James had given his name. The man had practically fallen over himself to offer them complimentary champagne, as an apology for the hassle the receptionist had given them, and as congratulations on their engagement.

Several hours later, they were lying together in the enormous bathtub, drinking the champagne.

“So,” James was saying, “do you want to hold the wedding before or after the baby’s born?”

“Before,” Lily replied, after some thought. “Before would be best, I think. Before this bump gets too much bigger.” She gestured down at the very slight bulge in her stomach.

“As you wish,” James kissed the top of her head, and rested the hand that was not holding his champagne flute on her stomach. “Where do you want to have the ceremony? I don’t have a lot of family, so Cokeworth might be more practical.”

Lily gave a derisive snort. “Fuck practical,” she said. “I want to get married in Gretna Green.”

“The place where people used to elope to?” James raised an eyebrow. “Okay then.”

“It’s romantic,” Lily laughed. “Honest, it is. Come on, please? I’ve been dreaming of getting married there since I was about eleven. We can have guests and stuff, you can still do that. I just want to do it there, it’ll be lovely.”

“Then we will,” James said, “I just want to marry you, the details aren’t exactly my biggest concern.”

“I really can’t decide if that’s flattering or not,” Lily said, taking a sip of her champagne. “I also should not be drinking this.”

“It’s a very small glass,” James reasoned. “It’ll be fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“I’m a nurse. Sort of. I _know_ it’ll be fine. But I’m not going to finish it anyway.” Lily sighed, and set the glass down. “We should be getting back to your house soon, you know. Tell your mum the news.”

“And Sirius. I need to tell him that you’ve said yes, I promised that he’d be first to know,” James grinned. “And he’s going to need time to work on the best man speech.”

“Oh god, no.”

“It’ll be grand,” James said, getting out of the bath, and pulling on one of the bathrobes. “You’ll get to hear about all my ridiculous teenage exploits.”

“James, darling, you’re still nineteen.”

“Shhh.”

 

* * *

 

The first person Lily told about her impending nuptials was her mother. It was, she thought, quite handy that James had already set about the procurement of a marriage license. It made everything much simpler; all she’d had to do was send a copy of her birth certificate to him. It was on the way back from the postbox that she told a second person- Remus. Lily’s deductive skills told her that he was on his way to the postbox, too. He was holding a letter in his hand.

“Well,” she said, smiling. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?” Remus asked, in a passable southern drawl.

“Posting James a copy of my birth certificate,” Lily said, brightly. “You?”

“Renewing student finance- wait, _what_?” Remus frowned down at her, his befuddlement evident. “What the hell?”

“Well, you see, you need it for a marriage license.” Lily grinned and held up her left hand, so that Remus could see the ring.

“You- oh my god, Lily!” Remus hugged her. “You’re getting _married_. To _James._ And you’re having a baby and- fuck me, Lils, when did you grow up?”

“Honestly, I haven’t. I’m only just twenty, Rem.” Lily shrugged. “But I know what’s right for me, and this is it. Does that sound stupid and childish?”

“It’s bloody adorable, is what it is,” Remus smiled, and patted her on the shoulder. “I’m happy for you. And jealous, because at least _you_ won’t have to house-hunt for next year. Looks like I’ll be finding myself some strangers to live with.”

“What?” Lily frowned. “Why would you need to do that? You and the girls can just find someone to take my spot, can’t you?”

“Funny,” Remus said, in tones that implied he didn’t find it funny at all. “Mary said almost exactly the same thing. She’s moving out, going to live with her girlfriend. So Marls and I are buggered.” He grimaced, and ran a hand through his hair. “Not that it’s your fault!” Remus hastened to add. “Not even a little bit, and I’m delighted for you.”

“Mary’s moving out?” Lily asked, taken aback. “Our Mary? Dammit. Well, I’ll help you look. And Marls, too.”

“Thanks, Lils. I was on my way to yours to tell you, actually. Thought I’d detour to the post box, you know?”

“Mm. I’m not sure why we only have one, in a town this size.” Lily shook her head. “I mean, we’ve got a train station, and a bloody hotel, but only one sodding postbox. Anyway, come with me now. We’ll have some tea, and I want to gossip. I’d no idea Mary was so serious about… god, what’s his name? Reg Cattermole, wasn’t it?”

 

* * *

 

Sirius shifted, trying and failing to get comfortable. It seemed impossible to find a flattering angle that also allowed him to see his laptop screen. Remus did not appear to be having the same problem.

“Evening, sweetheart,” Remus said. The speakers on Sirius’ laptop made his voice sound rather tinny, but it was good to hear it just the same. “How’re you?”

“Oh, you know,” Sirius grinned. “Excited to see you again without cameras involved. You _are_ still coming to James’ birthday party, yeah?”

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I just wanted to check,” Sirius was beaming, he could feel his cheeks starting to hurt from smiling so much. “I can’t believe it’s been a week since I last saw you. It’s horrible.”

“It really is. God, we’re becoming a terrible cliché.”

“Clingy as all hell, that’s what we are.” Sirius shook his head in mock shame. “Absolutely pathetic, as my dear brother keeps reminding him.”

“Well, we’ll have to spend his birthday party taking the piss out of him in return then, won’t we?” Remus grinned. “But other than James being a prat, how have you been?”

“Well, I have some news, actually.” Sirius smiled. “I got back into uni. I start my second year in September.”

“You- oh, Sirius, that’s wonderful!” Remus smiled. “That’s fantastic. I’m so proud of you.”

Sirius blushed. “Thank you.”

“It looks like you and I will be in the same boat, then,” Remus said. “What with James and Lily getting married, you’ll be needing to find somewhere to live. And apparently, so will I.”

Sirius raised his eyebrows. “What?” he asked. “Why will you be doing that?”

“Not only will Lily be moving out,” Remus explained, “but so will Mary, one of our other housemates. So Marlene and I are looking for somewhere else, which is probably going to mean splitting up.”

“Well…” Sirius began, and then hesitated. “If- if you need somewhere to live, and I need somewhere to live… we could, um- we could find somewhere… together?”

“I-” Remus frowned. “I don’t think… Sirius I- I love you. But… we’ve been together for three months. I think it might be a bit- well, a bit soon… for something that big.”

“Yes,” Sirius said, forcing the word past the lump in his throat. He thought he might be sick. “Yes. Of course. Forget that I mentioned it.”

“Yeah, sure,” Remus smiled, but it looked strained and forced. “Look, I- I um, I promised my mum that I’d do the laundry for her. So I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later.”

Sirius opened his mouth, trying to make another apology, but it was too late. Remus had already hung up. 

 

* * *

 

 

Despite his promise, Sirius did not hear from Remus again for days, and even then, it was through Lily. She came from Cokeworth, planning to celebrate James’ birthday, but Remus did not come with her. When Sirius finally dared to ask her where he was, she stared blankly.

“He’s ill,” she said, as if he should have known. “Didn’t he tell you?”

Sirius had mumbled an excuse. He didn’t even know what words he said, only that he had to force the words out. He fled the room, fighting back tears. He did not manage it for long. Remus had told him nothing about being ill, nothing about anything. And he had only himself to blame. He’d destroyed everything by moving too fast, because he didn’t understand how he was _supposed_ to move. He didn’t know anything. It was no wonder that Remus didn’t want to talk to him. Sirius wouldn’t have put up with someone like him for anywhere near as long as Remus had. But the crushing certainty that it was over still broke his heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews would make my day, honestly. There's nothing I love better than reviews. Please leave one?


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I... I wrote all of this today? I'm not sure what's happened here. I don't understand how I did a whole chapter in a day. But I did. So. Here it is?

Remus knew that there wasn’t anything awful wrong with him. It was only the medication. He still felt like death, though. Nausea and fatigue he could deal with, but guilt… guilt was too much. He hadn’t _needed_ to change his medication. He normally cycled them every six months, but he had only been taking it for four. He’d just wanted an excuse to stay in Cokeworth. Remus wasn’t sure that he could look Sirius in the eye after what had happened. You couldn’t just tell someone that you didn’t want to move to the next level with them and then go back to fucking them a week later. Well, you could. But it would probably make you an absolute arsehole. He wondered if he was still a wanker for making himself ill to avoid it. Lily certainly seemed to think so.

“Why are you avoiding your boyfriend?” she demanded, by way of a greeting, storming into his bedroom.

“Well, hello to you too.” Remus said, sitting up in bed. “And in case the thing where I’m in my pyjamas and in bed and have been for three days isn’t enough of a giveaway, I’m ill. Not avoiding him.”

“You are a liar,” Lily said, leaning back against the wall and folding her arms. “You’re a liar, and you know it. I’ve seen you like this before, and I know full well that if you’d _wanted_ to, you could have told Sirius that you’re ill, and that you couldn’t make it to the party.”

“Why would I be avoiding him?” Remus asked, with a passable attempt at nonchalance. He’d had enough arguments with Lily to know that the best way to win was to make her think herself in circles. If he was really lucky, he could make her have the whole argument herself.

“I don’t know,” Lily admitted. “But I do know that he ran out of the room in tears when he realised that you hadn’t even bothered to tell him that you weren’t coming.”

Remus felt sick again. He had no doubt that it was guilt this time. There was a very different kind of sick when he was actually going to vomit. It felt less like snakes in his stomach. “He- he cried?”

“Yes. And when he said goodbye to me this morning he looked like he’d probably been crying all night. James says he’s been miserable for days, ever since you two last spoke.” Lily fixed him with her glare. Remus wondered why he had ever thought that he was immune to it.

Remus sighed, put his head in his hands. “Fuck,” he said. “Fuck. I- fuck. I’ve fucked up.”

“Yes, you have.” Lily’s glare softened a little. “Sirius is- I mean, I don’t know everything, but Sirius has been through a lot, and he really doesn’t need his heart broken. Whatever happened between you, if it can be fixed, then you need to fix it. He loves you, and I know that you love him. What’s such a big deal that you can’t work through it?”

“He suggested that we move in together,” Remus said. “And that- it- what if it doesn’t work out? You’re used to seeing me when I get sick, when my medication makes me ill, or my immune system fails me. He isn’t. He’s never seen it.”

“And you think he won’t like you once he has?” Lily sighed. “Everybody gets sick, Remus. You just get sick a bit more than everyone else. And, I say again, _he loves you_. He’s not going to care.”

“It’s not about him caring, Lily. It’s about me. I don’t want him to see me like that. I don’t want to be a burden on him, someone he has to look after. I don’t want our relationship to be like that,” Remus groaned. “I didn’t- I never meant to hurt him. I thought if we had some space he’d back down.”

“He thinks that you’re going to break up with him,” Lily said, folding her arms. “That you’re going to ignore him until you get around to breaking it off properly.”

“I- I’m not going to break up with him. I’m not.” Remus shook his head. “I’m not. I just need a third option.”

“Well, you don’t have a third option. You have two options. You can break up with Sirius, and spare him any more pain. Or you can swallow your pride and talk to him about what’s worrying you.” Lily smiled, kindly. Remus wondered if this was how she dealt with her patients. “You don’t have to put aside everything for Sirius. That’s not healthy. But if you talk to him, he’ll understand. He’ll understand that you don’t hate him, or want him out of your life.”

“So your grand advice is to talk to him?” Remus raised his eyebrows.

“Well, _you_ hadn’t thought of it, had you?” Lily said, looking rather smug. “As soon as you’re feeling better, go to see him. Talk to him, and for God’s sake, apologise to him. And work this out, before James hunts you down and brutally murders you for hurting his little brother.”

“Well,” Remus grimaced. “That’s one hell of an incentive.”

 

* * *

  

There was paint everywhere. Sirius thought it was probably in his hair, too. He wasn’t particularly sure that he cared. He hadn’t bothered to shower for a twod days, or maybe three. A bit of paint wasn’t going to make much difference.

“Sirius?” Mrs. Potter poked her head around the doorframe. “I’ve brought you some food.”

“I’m not hungry,” Sirius said, without turning around. They’d gone through this perhaps a half-dozen times already. He didn’t want to eat. He didn’t want anything, except to be left alone.

“Well, tough.” Mrs. Potter stepped into the room, and set the plate on a table.  “You haven’t eaten properly in far too long. Sweetheart, it’s not healthy. I’m worried about you.”

“I’m fine.” Sirius said, shortly, resuming his painting. “I went to the kitchen last night and made myself some pasta. I’ve eaten. I’m fine.”

“Sirius, you are quite clearly _not_ fine. I’m your mother, I know these things.”

“You’re not.” Sirius murmured. “You’re not my mother. I wish you were, but you’re not. I’m not your son, and I never will be. So leave me alone.”

“Family is not blood, Sirius. Family is whom we choose. Harry and I, we _chose_ you, Sirius. When you first came here, when you were thirteen, we talked about adopting you.” Mrs. Potter’s voice was steady, but she sounded close to tears. “We were ready to fight your parents in court for you. But we couldn’t be sure that you’d want it.”

Very slowly, Sirius turned around. “You- you wanted to adopt me?”

“Yes. When you first stayed with us, you were ill, do you remember? You were in bed for three days, and shaky for two more. I brought you soup and blankets, and you thought we were _spoiling_ you. I knew- I suspected- that your parents didn’t care for you properly.” Mrs. Potter sighed, wiping at her eyes. “I’d have done anything to get you away from them. But I couldn’t be sure that _you_ wanted it.”

“I did.” Sirius said, and he was crying too. “I did. That was why I came here, when they threw me out.” He stepped forward, and hugged Mrs. Potter tightly. “I wanted to come before but I thought- I thought you’d send me away.”

“You’re my son,” she said. “There’s nothing you could do that would make me want to send you away forever. That’s what family is. It’s not your fault that your birth parents didn’t understand that.”

 

A little over an hour later, Sirius was showered and wearing clean clothes for what felt like the first time in weeks. He hadn’t quite realised how awful the accumulated dirt had been making him feel. Now, sitting at the kitchen table, with an enormous plate of Mrs. Potter’s best curry, he felt almost as if nothing was wrong. Both Mrs. Potter and James were with him, chatting merrily away about anything that came into their heads, while James stole Sirius’ naan bread. Eventually, when he had finished eating, they turned to him.

“So,” Sirius said, aiming for light-heartedness and falling rather short, “is this the talking part of my intervention?”

“I thought you and mum had done that already,” James said. “This is the bit where we ask what on earth is wrong. You’ve been locking yourself away in your room and crying and painting. It’s not healthy.”

“It made me feel better,” Sirius lied.

“But what happened?” Mrs. Potter reached across the table, and took his hand. “Sweetheart, what happened? You haven’t seemed happy since you were excited about talking to Remus. And then after that, everything went wrong.”

“Remus,” Sirius said, and the word felt heavy and awkward in his mouth. “Remus and I… I did something wrong. And now I think we might have broken up. Or if we haven’t then we will soon. He hates me now.”

“I’m sure you didn’t do anything that bad,” James said, almost before Sirius had stopped talking. “Lily said he’s been sick. Maybe he just hasn’t been able to talk to you.”

“I asked him to move in with me,” Sirius said. “I didn’t know it was too soon, but I’ve ruined everything. I didn’t- I’ve never done this before. I thought it would be okay. He said that he loved me, and I thought…  well, Cissy barely _liked_ Lucius when they got married…”

“And he didn’t want to move in?” James said, frowning. “Siri, that’s hardly your fault. He probably just needs some time.”

“He hasn’t spoken to me since.” Sirius said, dully. “Not even a text. Needing time isn’t it. I pushed it too far and he realised that he didn’t want me after all.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” James snorted. “It’s _you_. He’d have to be a complete idiot not to be head over heels for you. He’ll come around, you’ll see. And anyway, you didn’t do anything wrong. If Remus doesn’t understand that your experiences of these things are different to everyone else’s then I will personally punch him until he does see it.”

“Don’t,” Sirius said. “Don’t threaten him. He doesn’t deserve to be hurt. Nobody does.”

“The only thing he doesn’t deserve is you,” James said, and stormed from the room.

“Oh dear,” Mrs. Potter said, looking hugely entertained. “Your brother appears to be on the warpath.”

  

* * *

 

 

“You can fuck right off,” James said, leaning against the doorframe. He was quite proud of the stance. Not only did it block the doorway, but it looked nicely intimidating. “I’m not letting you speak to him.”

“James, _please_ , please let me. Just- just give me five minutes. You can be there if you want. Please, I have to talk to him. I’ve made a mistake.” Remus ran a hand through his hair. “At least let Sirius tell me himself that he doesn’t want to see me himself.”

“Give me one good reason,” James snarled. “You broke his heart. You ignored him for what’s it been, two weeks? You don’t get anything from him.”

“I haven’t had time to explain myself properly,” Remus said, looking genuinely desperate. “I wasn’t well, and then I had family things that were taking up all my time. I came as soon as I could. I wanted to do it right. Give him a real apology. Please, just let me explain myself to him.”

James hesitated. He knew that, technically, he had no right to stop Remus and Sirius talking. But a few days had been more than enough for Sirius to progress from blaming himself to anger with Remus. James felt perfectly justified in speaking for his brother on the matter. He would’ve put money on Sirius refusing to speak to Remus if he had known that he were there.

“I’m still waiting for a reason,” James said, eventually. “If you can convince me, you might stand a chance of convincing him. And he’s fucking livid with you.”

“It’s to do with my HIV.” Remus said, slowly. “And the ways that it affect my life. It… I wasn’t sure that it would be wholly compatible with us living together.”

James blinked. “Your… HIV? You have HIV?”

“Yes,” Remus said, rather coolly. “I honestly thought that Sirius or Lily would have told you by now.”

“They haven’t,” James said. “But okay, fine. You can come inside. You’ll take a seat, and then I’ll go and see if Sirius wants to talk to you.”

Remus nodded. “Alright,” he said. “That seems fair.”

  

* * *

 

 

(1:21pm) (From: Jamie <3)

**_remus is here. do i let him see sirius? dnt know if it’s a gd idea_ **

(1:22pm) (To: Jamie <3)

Let him in. Sirius needs to hear him out.

(1:23pm) (From: Jamie <3)

**_alright. ill try n convince siri 2 tlk 2 him_ **

**** ****

* * *

 

 

Remus wasn’t sure how long he waited for. His nerves made it feel like it was about seven years. Eventually, the door opened, and Sirius walked in. He was holding himself very stiffly, and his arms were folded.

“So,” Sirius said. His tones were more crisp and clipped than Remus had ever heard them. It was slightly intimidating. “James tells me that he has been assured that you can explain yourself.”

“Yes,” Remus said, nodding. “And I’m so, so sorry. I never meant to upset you-”

“Oh, well then,” Sirius interrupted him, rolling his eyes. “That makes everything alright. You’ve not spoken to me for three weeks, Lupin. And now you turn up here and expect me to listen to you?”

“Yes, I do,” Remus snapped, his own temper fraying. “Because I am hear to apologise and it’s good fucking manners to listen. You don’t have to forgive me. But you can at least let me explain myself and then decide. I love you, isn’t that worth the benefit of the doubt?”

“Fine,” Sirius said, but he sounded less like a member of the royal family, so Remus reckoned he wasn’t quite so angry anymore. “Explain.” He sat down in the chair opposite Remus’, and folded his arms.

“Firstly, I was ill. I wasn’t faking to avoid you. I’ve been absolutely exhausted and vomiting a lot. It’s a side effect when I change my medication, which I have to do every few months. And that’s part of why I found the idea of living with you so terrifying,” Remus sighed, before launching into the same explanation he’d given Lily. He hoped very much that he wasn’t imagining Sirius’ stony expression softening as he spoke.

“Oh,” Sirius said, when he finished. “I… okay. That makes sense. What I don’t understand is why you didn’t tell me that before, rather than running out on the Skype call, and leaving me to freak out.”

“That wasn’t fair of me,” Remus said, sighing. “It wasn’t, and I’m so, so sorry. I should never have done that, but I panicked.”

“You- okay,” Sirius nodded. “I’m not _happy_ about that. But I can understand it. That kind of thing happens sometimes.”

“I really am sorry, Sirius. Really. I love you, you know that, yeah? I never wanted to hurt you. Not ever.”

“I love you, too. And I’m sorry I sprang that on you. It was a big thing. I just… I don’t really understand how this stuff is meant to work. My experiences aren’t exactly standard. I didn’t really know that.” Sirius sighed. “My cousins, one of them was married at eighteen, the other was married at twenty-one. I was _meant_ to be married to another one of my cousins at eighteen. My parents were nineteen. Nobody I know ever so much as lived with their spouses before they married them. I knew my frame of reference was off, I just didn’t realise how off.”

Remus stared for a second. He knew, from things Sirius had told him, that his family was strange, but he hadn’t ever realised quite _how_ strange. “Whoa.”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Sirius actually _smiled_ and Remus felt his heart leap. “So… well. I suppose that I forgive you. Because I love you, and I have actually hated not speaking to you, and I would really, really like to put this behind us.”

“Is- is that it?” Remus asked, delighted. “I thought- well, I thought that you wouldn’t ever stop being furious with me.”

“I considered it,” Sirius smiled. “But I think I’d be miserable if I did.”

“Well, I’m glad. I really am.” Remus smiled back. He wondered if kissing was out of the question. “I really want this- want us- to work. More than anything.”

“We’ll make it work.” Sirius said it with such utter conviction, that Remus wondered how he could have ever had doubts.

“We will,” Remus said. “And we’ll be living together, which will be nice.”

Sirius blinked. “We- what?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking. I’ve had a lot of time for thinking. It was a long train ride. And I realised that my health issues… well, I’m always going to have those, unless a miracle cure is found.” Remus shrugged. “We should try it. And if it doesn’t work then I’ll move out and we’ll take things slower. But I think-” Remus never got to say what he thought, though, because Sirius had jumped forward, and kissed him on the mouth. Five minutes later, James came to check on them, only to find Sirius sitting on Remus’ lap, still kissing him.

 

* * *

 

 

(2:19pm) (To: Lily <3)

**_they r kissing now. think it is probly sorted out_ **

(2:21pm) (From: Lily <3)

I demand details.

(2:22pm) (To: Lily <3)

**_u want dtails abt the kissing???_ **

(2:23pm) (From: Lily <3)

No! I want to know what they talked about.

(2:25pm) (To: Lily <3)

**_o. tht makes more sense. i will ask._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only two chapters to go! The story is so close to being over.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh but this took ages to write. I had to change my plans for it around a lot during the writing and it got messy and then I had to write it all out again.

“Honestly, Sirius, I’m not sure we really need to buy a house,” Remus was fairly certain that his protests were falling on deaf ears.

“Well, no.” Sirius agreed, rather cheerfully. Remus was momentarily taken aback. “We are going to buy a flat. I need somewhere I can paint and not have to worry about pissing someone else off. And I hear real estate is a good investment,” he smirked up at Remus. “Besides. I’ve been thinking.”

“That sounds like it’s going to have a dangerous outcome.”

“Don’t be rude. I was thinking that what would be fun, right, was if Peter came to live with us, too,” Sirius looked positively delighted with himself. “I’m just saying, because, you know, he’s our mate, so we know we’d get along, and it’d lift a bit of pressure, wouldn’t it? Then maybe after you two finish uni and he moves out it’ll be just us. But we’ll ease into it.”

It took Remus a minute or two to work this out. He kept forgetting that Sirius would be at university for a year longer than he and Peter would. “Well, if you, James and Lily are here, I’ll probably stick around.” Remus grinned. “Maybe I’ll do a Master’s. They like you to be fluent in two languages to do one here, so I’ve got that bit down. Spend the year studying too.”

Sirius looked surprised. “You speak two languages?”

“Mhm. My mum’s Italian. No explanation for the stupid surname, but at least it excuses the stupid first name.”” Remus grimaced. “Now, if you hurry up, we can talk to Peter about living with us before we look around the next place. And _then_ you’re coming out to lunch with me and my parents and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“But I avoided that for all of the Easter holiday,” Sirius groaned. “I thought I was _free_.”

“Well, you’re not.” Remus grinned broadly. “They’ve not been up to visit me all year, but they’re here now, and I’ve told them that you’re coming.”

“God dammit,” Sirius said, without much feeling. “Well, I suppose they can’t be much worse than any of my parents, and you’ve met all of those.”

“Mrs. Potter is lovely,” Remus said, deciding that it was probably best to ignore any other parental figures that Sirius might have. “She offered to buy us condoms.”

“Oh, God.” Sirius blushed scarlet. “She’s- she’s ridiculous. I’m so sorry.”

“Mmm, I’ll forgive you,” Remus smirked. “But only because you’re cute when you blush.”

  

* * *

 

 

James was about ready to slam his head against a wall. He’d gotten confirmation that he and Lily had a marriage license that morning, and he was starting to wish that he’d kept it to himself. Guest lists were, he’d decided, the absolute _worst_.

“You must have more people than that,” Lily said, surveying his list with a raised eyebrow. “Your mum, Sirius, Peter, Frank- his name can’t really be Longbottom, can it? - Oh, and his wife. Alice is a lovely name, isn’t it? And then four more,” she put down the list, and rolled her eyes. “James, you can’t seriously only have nine people on your list.”

“Well… Maybe my old headmaster? And my head of house? He’s great to have at parties, and she’s a friend of my mum’s,” James cast about desperately for more names, but he was finding it hard. “Oh! Oh, there’s a bloke I went to school with, Caradoc Dearborn. Uh… I don’t know. I could realistically invite the royal family if you wanted?”

“I’ll pass on that, thanks.” Lily shook her head. “Fine. Thirteen people it is. I’ve got twice that.”

“Well, I could have put Remus on my list, but I assume that he’s on yours,” James pointed out. He was quite ready for this conversation to be over; he wasn’t quite sure why Lily was so determined to have legions of guests. Forty seemed plenty to him.

“He is on mine, yes. Him, and some other old school friends, some aunts and uncles, my sister, and Mary and Marlene. And Mary’s boyfriend, because I barely know him but I would like a chance to observe him.”

“Lily, it’s our _wedding_ not a spy mission.” James was really starting to regret turning up his nose at an elopement. He was starting to think that it’d be less stressful.

“I don’t see why it can’t be both,” Peter observed, diplomatically. James started. He had almost forgotten that Peter was there. “Or why you need lots of people there. I think legally you only need two.”

“We’re not eloping,” James said. “Although that would be both more romantic and less stressful, and I would like to reiterate the fact that I don’t care how or where we get married, just that we do.”

“You’re really selling me on the romance there, James,” Lily said, rolling her eyes. 

 

* * *

 

 

Remus didn’t think he’d ever seen Sirius sit quite so stiffly, including when they had been fighting. There was tension in every line of his body, and he was practically radiating nerves.

“So Remus tells us that you’re starting back at university in September?” Mr. Lupin said, with a frown. “Why did you take a year off?”

Sirius looked like a rabbit in headlights, and, in the absence of being able to do anything actually helpful, Remus reached out and took his had. Almost immediately, Sirius relaxed. It was a hell of an ego boost.

“There were some family matters that needed my attention,” Sirius said, with a shrug. “I thought it best that I take the time to be able to properly deal with and focus on those, and not ruin my studies.”

“Goodness,” Remus’ mum looked taken aback. “That sounds terribly serious,”

“Yes, it was rather,” Sirius smiled. “I’m the Duke of Northumberland now.”

Mr. Lupin actually dropped his fork. Remus tried not to laugh at the expression of pure astonishment on his dad’s face. “The… Duke of Northumberland?”

“Yes,” Sirius nodded, now looking perfectly at ease. “An ancestor of mine, Phineas Nigellas, married into the title in fifteen thirteen upon his marriage to Henry the Eighth’s bastard daughter by Mary Boleyn. Princess Diana was actually a distant cousin of mine.”

Remus wasn’t sure that the genealogy lesson was completely necessary, but he was finding the looks on his parents’ faces too funny to stop it.

“So… you’re… a duke?” Hope Lupin regard Sirius with astonishment. Remus couldn’t blame he for her surprise. He wouldn’t have expected a duke to be wearing skinny jeans and a leather jacket either.

“Yes,” Sirius nodded, “it’s a bit of a shock to me, too. Takes a bit of getting used to, but my little brother’s going to be a Marquess one day, so I’m just grateful that I’ve got a title people can pronounce.”

“And what’re you doing with our Remus then?” Lyall raised his eyebrows, and Remus flushed.

“Dad!”

“He’s the love of my life, sir,” Sirius said, bluntly. “And I don’t see why having a fancy coat of arms means that I can’t think that.”

“Gosh,” Remus’ mum beamed at Sirius. “Why do you never say things like that, Ly? Remus, this one is adorable. If you don’t want him, I’ll have him.”

 

* * *

 

 

An hour later, Sirius was still baffled by the fact that Remus’ parents had seemed to like him. Still, it seemed better not to question it, and to just come to terms with the fact that all parents other than his ended up adoring him.

“What time are we supposed to be meeting everyone else?” Sirius asked, as they exited the restaurant.

“Ten minutes ago,” Remus grinned. “I’m sure Peter will forgive us at least.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Sirius said, grimly. “James said they were starting wedding planning today. Peter’s probably ready to have us all murdered by now.”

“We’re hardly to blame,” Remus pointed out, looking rather affronted.

“We abandoned him to preparation hell,” Sirius countered. “He’ll probably kill James and Lily and then frame us for the murders.”

“I’m not going to prison for you,” Remus shook his head. “No way. He’s taking you down, not me.”

“And then you’ll be all alone,” Sirius pointed out. “So you won’t exactly be a winner there, will you?”

Remus considered this for a few moments, and then grinned. “Conjugal visits?” he suggested.

“Oh, fuck you.”

“Yes, that is rather the point of conjugal visits.”

 

They were so astoundingly late meeting their friends that, in the end, they decided that it would probably be best of they just lies and said that they thought they were meeting at three, not two. Sirius cheerfully offloaded the blame for this cock up, saying that as Remus had left the dyslexic in charge of planning the meetings, he could hardly complain that Sirius had misread the messages.

“Maybe we should send you two out with a chaperone in the future,” James said, rolling his eyes.

“We were meting my parents for lunch,” Remus pointed out. “We were pretty well chaperoned.”

“It was just a very long lunch,” Sirius said, with a shrug.

“Mm, well, if you say so,” James shot Remus a distinctly suspicious look.  Sirius had noticed him doing that a lot lately. James, it seemed, was not as ready to forgive Remus as Sirius was.

“I do,” Sirius said, rather shortly, and turned to Peter. “Pete, you’re not accusing us of anything morally dubious, are you?”

“What?” Peter looked thoroughly befuddled. “No?”

“Good, you’re my new favourite,” Sirius beamed at him.

“Oi,” Remus said, without much feeling.

“Shh, love, we talked about this,” Sirius flapped a hand at Remus, in what he hoped was a shushing gesture. “Peter, you wonderful, lovely, delightful man.”

“I’m concerned,” Peter said. He might have been planning to say more, Sirius talked over him.

“Remus and I have been thinking,” Sirius said, “and we want-”

“You better not be asking the asexual for a threesome,” James warned.

“Don’t be crass, we want Pete to come and live with us next year. No rent, no bills, just buy your own food. Be a mate, yeah?”

“You want me to live with you?” Peter asked, looking slightly baffled.

“Yes. We do. It’ll be fun,” Sirius nodded, enthusiastically. “Please? You’re our best mate and we think it’ll be fun.”

“He’s not using the royal we there,” Remus added, ever helpful. “I think it’ll be fun.”

“Well- yeah!” Peter grinned. “Yeah, that sounds great! I’ll look for someone that can take my place in the house I’m in now before I go, though.”

“Oh!” Lily slammed her hand down on the table, making everyone jump. “Marlene! She still needs a place to live. I’ll give you her number, Peter, you can talk to her. You should talk to her anyway, actually. I think you’d get along.”

“Get along in what sense?” Sirius asked, with an unnecessary eyebrow wiggle.

“They have a lot in common,” Lily said, folding her arms. “She is also asexual. Shared life experiences, and all that.”

“Okay,” Peter said, looking very unsure. “Thanks, Lily.”

 

* * *

  

“Why are there so many options for envelope colour?” Lily asked, bewildered. “Is it really necessary to give us twelve options? They’re just envelopes!”

“We wouldn’t need to send out invites if we eloped,” James said, only half-joking.

“Don’t tempt me,” Lily said, with a laugh. “It’s getting more and more appealing by the hour, I swear.”

“We could do it,” James pointed out. “We have the license. Gretna isn’t far on the train. We could phone them up, ask if we could push it forward and just… go.”

“But what about or families?” shaking her head, Lily sighed. “Mum will want to be there.”

“We could have a party after the baby’s born,” James pointed out. “Like those ones where people renew their vows. And we could invited everyone and have all the speeches and you can actually drink the champagne.”

Lily considered it, which surprised James a great deal. He’d only been half serious in suggesting it, and expected her to dismiss the idea out of hand.

“That… I actually really like that idea,” she admitted. “I’ve got a bump already, and I don’t want to be enormous in my dress. But if we renew our vows in a few months, and have all of the typical wedding things, it could be… well, I think it’d be lovely.”

James leant down, and kissed her. “Alright,” he said. “Lets elope. Go and pack a bag. I’ll look up train times. We can leave tonight, find a hotel there and get married tomorrow.”

“Just the two of us, or shall we bring some guests?” Lily asked, beaming.

“The boys, and Mary and Marlene?” James suggested. “Two bridesmaids for you, a best man for me, and two to witness?”

“Perfect,” Lily said, and kissed him again. “I’ll tell the girls. You sort out the boys. And for God’s sake, pack a suit, James. Make sure they do, too. I want photos of this, and I want them to look nice.”

“I’ll make sure they have suits,” James promised. “Do you have a dress you can wear?”

“Nothing fancy,” Lily shrugged. “But it’s white, and it’s pretty.”

“That’ll do.” James grinned. “Go on then. We’ll meet at mine in two hours, and catch the next train after that.”

And with that, they parted ways. James went home via a jeweller’s, where he purchased two plain gold wedding rings, much to the surprise of the shop assistant, who just so happened to be the girlfriend of one of the boys on his rugby team. She hadn’t known he was engaged.

  

* * *

 

 

James was regretting not using the ticket machine outside the station. Ticket machines couldn’t give you funny looks because you were buying seven tickets to Gretna Green. James was willing to put money on the fact that the woman behind the counter knew exactly what was going on, and that she disapproved. He wasn’t entirely sure how much he cared, though. There were more important things to do. As soon as they were on the train, he had to call, and make sure that the ceremony could be held in a few days. James wasn’t looking forward to that. He hated phone calls at the best of times, and liked them even less when he was making awkward requests of people. Nevertheless, once they were settled down, and their bags away, James made the call. He half hoped nobody would answer; it was a quarter to five, which he imagined was probably when the receptionist finished.

“Hello, this is Gretna Green’s wedding planner’s office, how may I help?” a cheerful Scottish woman answered the phone. James wondered if this was what Professor McGonagall, his old favourite teacher, sounded like when she was on the phone. He doubted it immensely.

“Hello,” he replied, in his best telephone voice, “my name is James Potter. My fiancée and I are meant to be getting married with you in about ten weeks.”

“One moment while I find your booking, please,” there was the sound of tapping on a keyboard. “Yes, I’ve found it. What can I be helping you with today?”

“We were wondering if we could move the wedding forward, to some time in the next few days.” James could feel his heart pounding. It wasn’t helped by the long pause on the other end of the line.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to talk to the manager,” the receptionist said. “That’ll all have to be arranged through her. If you’re willing to hold the line, I can put you through to her.”

“That would be very helpful of you, thank you.” the fact that six people were staring at him really wasn’t helping his anxiety. He set the phone down, putting it on loudspeaker so that he could hear when the hold music came to an end, and explained the situation to his companions. Lily reached over to squeeze his hand, and Sirius frowned.

“I have an idea,” he announced. There was a collective groan.

“Siri, no offence, but your ideas are historically not good.” James said, as gently as he could manage.

“This one is excellent,” Sirius countered. “Really quite good. Let me take the call when the manager answers. I promise. I’ve got this. I wouldn’t fuck up your wedding, would I?”

James did not get a chance to reply, as the hold music cut off, to be replaced with the voice of the manager. He pushed the phone across the table to Sirius, who scooped it up with a look of triumph on his face.

“Terribly sorry for the wait there,” he said. James’ telephone voice had nothing on Sirius’. Sirius sounded like a Victorian aristocrat. It was a little intimidating. “James has just stepped out, an emergency with the fiancée. He’s asked me to take the call, if you don’t mind?”

James could not hear the reply, but from Sirius’ smug smile, he gathered that it was an affirmative.

“Oh, my name is Sirius Black, Duke of Northumberland.” James could only imagine the manager’s reaction to such a dramatic statement. “I’m the best man.” Another pause. James wished he knew what the woman was saying. “Yes,” Sirius said. “Yes, I will be at the wedding. And of course, I’d be happy to. You’re putting yourself out for us, after all.” there was one last pause, and then. “That sounds perfect. Thank you very much, Amelia.” And with that, Sirius hung up the phone.

“Well?” Lily asked, drumming her fingers on the table.

“You’re getting married at two thirty tomorrow,” Sirius grinned. “The service will be fairly simple, but if there are any reading you want then they’ll be happy to accommodate. The florist will deliver flowers to you at twelve o’clock, and the hair and makeup people that you booked in your original package will come at a quarter past. They’ll do all three of you ladies.” Sirius smiled. “And while that’s going on, I’ll be writing an endorsement for them, as a small thank-you for all their help.”

“You’re wonderful,” Lily said, beaming. “Absolutely amazing.”

“Yeah,” Sirius grinned. “I know.”

 

It seemed to James that all Mary and Marlene had been waiting for was a confirmation of the time of the wedding. As soon as they had it, they went into overdrive. Marlene pulled a checklist from her bag, and set it on the table in front of her.

“So,” she said, examining her list. “You have a dress, I helped you pack it. Flowers are being sorted when we get there…” she crossed off two items on her list. “Do you have shoes?”

“I do,” Lily nodded.

“Do you have rings?”

“Yes,” James held up a small box, which Sirius promptly seized. The girls left them to squabble over whether it was too early for the best man to have the rings, and retuned to their list.

“Do you have something blue?” Marlene asked, with a smile.

“I was going to do my nails,” Lily said, shrugging.

“That’ll do.” Mary snatched the list, and read off the next item. “Something new?”

“I’ve got this little flower crown thing that goes around a bun,” Lily offered. “I only bought it a few days ago.”

Her friends took a little longer to approve this, but eventually they moved on to the required something borrowed, and were shocked to find that Lily not only didn’t have that, but she was lacking something old, too.

“I may be able to help,” said Sirius, who had just won the fight over the wedding rings. “Here.” he wiggled his family ring off his finger, and held it out to Lily. “You can wear this, on your right hand, obviously. It’s nearly two centuries old, and you are borrowing it.”

“James,” Lily said, as she slid the ring onto her right ring finger. “James, I’m stealing your best friend.”

 

* * *

 

Lily Evans got married in a dress that had cost her fifteen pounds in Primark. It was long, and gorgeous, and looked as if it’d cost at least ten times as much. The ivory fabric set off the pallor of her skin, and she looked positively luminous. She walked down the aisle on the arm of Remus Lupin, her best friend since they were eleven. Behind them came Mary McDonald, and Marlene McKinnon, who had finally found a chance to make use of the fact that they both owned the same pale blue H&M dress. None of the men had matching suits, but James’ rather extensive tie collection had at least provided them all with one matching article- his old red and gold striped school ties. Sirius Black stood at his best friend’s side the whole way through the service. Peter Pettigrew, who had, at the last minute, been promoted to ring-bearer, had to pass Sirius a handkerchief when he started crying.

From the moment Lily entered the old marriage room at Gretna Green, the ceremony took twenty minutes. The priest, a kindly old man, blessed them both, read a few passages from the bible, and lead the seven of them in a chorus of _Give Me Joy In My Heart_ , which had been chosen because it was the only hymn to which they all knew the words. James put his hands over his wife’s eyes when she threw her bouquet to their five guests, only to double over laughing when it was caught by his very triumphant best man. By three o’clock, they were in the restaurant of their hotel, ordering a late lunch.

Lily Potter leant against her husband, and smiled. She didn’t think that there could ever have been a more perfect wedding.

 

* * *

 

Lily had been right when she’d said that her mother wanted to be at the wedding. She had also been right to thing that a renewal of vows would placate her. Three months after the birth of Harry James Potter, who, according to his many uncles (but not his aunt, or her husband) was the most perfect baby ever born, the ceremony was held. It was a far cry from the wedding. Lily’s dress had cost upwards of one thousand pounds, which she blamed entirely on Sirius’ insistence that it couldn’t hurt to look at the Zac Posen gowns. The groomsmen all wore matching suits, although they had kept the red and gold ties. And there were forty guests filling the pews of the Cokeworth parish church. It was perfect in it’s own way, though, and Lily counted herself extremely lucky that she’d had the chance to experience both of her dream weddings with the same man.

The last difference between the two weddings was the speeches. The first time, there hadn’t been any at all. The second time, there were about six. Sirius’ was last, after some from friends of James’ family, and some of Lily’s relatives. He stood up, flicked his hair back, and smiled at the audience.

“Evening,” he said. “For those of you who don’t know me, you unfortunate souls, I am Sirius. I have a ridiculous name, I know. I’ve also got a fairly ridiculous best friend, but what can you do?” there were a few polite titters from the audience. “We are here to celebrate the wedding of James Potter and Lily Evans, which you all missed, because they are impatient. It was a lovely service, and I am not ashamed to admit that I cried for almost all of it,” Sirius feigned embarrassment, and received more laughter for his troubles. “So, I’m going to talk to you about James now. He’s my best friend, and my brother, and I’m really rather fond of him. He’s been my best friend since I was thirteen years old, because that’s when I met him. James and I went to school together. It was a boarding school. I think mum thought it’d make him a wholesome country child, going to school in Hampshire. Rarely has anybody been more wrong.

“James got his first detention on the very night we arrived. I remember it vividly, because the arse took me down with him. Admittedly, we shouldn’t have been throwing peas at the headmaster. Terribly sorry about that by the way, sir,” Sirius paused to doff an imaginary hat to Albus Dumbledore, who was both rather drunk, and delighted by his mention in the speech. “That detention,” Sirius continued, “that was the first of many. We were at school together for five years, and as a direct result of thing that I did with James I received seventy-four detentions. There were others which I could probably blame him for, but I think mum is going to kill me so I shall cut the next few lines of my speech.” Sirius made a great show of crossing out something on a bit of paper, to laughter from his audience. “James is a good man. A few detentions and a failed science GCSE are a small price to pay to be friends with someone like him. I know nobody else who has offered me such unconditional support, and friendship, and I must say, I am rather jealous of Lily.

“Lily Potter is the most remarkable woman I have ever met. Except, perhaps, for Professor McGonagall. Never fear, Minerva, you remain the love of my life,” McGonagall shook her head at this, but she had also had rather a lot to drink, and therefore failed to look disapproving. “So, to Lily. I am rather short on stories about her teenage years. Most of the good ones have been told, and anyway, I haven’t known her that long. But I do have two, and for this first one you may thank Remus. I hear, that at fifteen, when her then-boyfriend, who I believe was called something daft, like Amos, hugger her from behind, she turned around, punched him in the face, and broke his nose. I cannot make any promises as to the veracity of this, but I’d be willing to put money on it.

“The second story I can promise you is true.” Sirius continued. “Last year, as some of you may know, Lily and I, by a wonderful twist of fate, ended up working in the same coffee shop. It’s a nice place, if you’re ever in Glasgow, you should look it up. It’s called Tom’s coffee house. It’s run by a bloke called Tom, who has a very loyal customer named Jeremy, or perhaps I should say _had_ , because Lily here did not like Jeremy. He used to come into the café and flirt with her while she was working. The man would not take ‘no’ for an answer. And believe me, Lils tried everything. There was a particularly memorable occasion where she pushed me up against the coffee maker and snogged me, to demonstrate that I was her boyfriend. I would like to say now, because James looks murderous, that I have never been her boyfriend. This was not enough to deter Jeremy. Jeremy was a persistent man. So, the next time he asked her what she was doing later, she told him that she was attending a lecture on feminist theory. Honestly, she probably was. But Jeremy did not like this. He made that clear. And in return, Jeremy got an hour lecture on feminism, interspersed with threats to report him for harassment if he ever came back to the shop.

“At this time, girls were still very strange to me. I went to an all boys’ school. I wasn’t sure what feminism _was_. So I asked, and Lily explained. And that’s what’s so remarkable about Lily Potter. She helps people. She takes an ignorant posh boy and sits him down and explains things to him. She gives her friends the same unconditional support that James does. She has chosen a career that revolves around caring for people. I have no doubt that Lily Potter will be the best mother that there has ever been. She is, after all, the kindest, strongest woman I have ever known. She is the perfect match for James, who is the best and bravest man that I have ever known. I do not know two people more suited to one another, two people more deserving in the happiness that they have fond in each other, and in their son, Harry. So I ask you to join me in raising your glasses in a toast, to James and Lily Potter, and their future. May it be as long and happy as they deserve.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! That is the end of the story, but never fear, there is a final chapter which will take the form of a small epilogue. I promise that you shall have it by next Tuesday.


	15. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is it. My epilogue, the last part of this fic that has taken me goddamn years to write. I hope you've liked it as much as I have.

**_Thirteen Years Later_ **

 

Somewhere in the house, a door slammed shut. Sirius set down his sketchbook and waited. Less than a minute later, there was a knock on the door to his studio.

“Come in,” he said, standing up. His husband entered the room. In three strides, Remus had crossed the room, and pulled Sirius into a hug.

“Afternoon,” he said, and kissed Sirius.

“How was work?” Sirius replied, lacing their fingers together. “I know how you hate consultation days.”

“Yeah, remind me again why I became a professor?” Remus shook his head, smiling. “Honestly, Siri, the number of student who can’t read the guidelines in the module handbook hurts my heart.”

“I’ll kiss you better later,” Sirius said, with a wink. “But you are late, Mr. Lupin, and we have to pick the kids up from school in twenty minutes.”

“Oh dear,” Remus raised an eyebrow. “You only pay attention to the time when you’re having trouble with work yourself. What’s going on?”

“I have one more month until the launch of the new line,” Sirius sighed. “I need one more statement piece, and I need to pick what’ll be used in Paris at the shows, and I have no work ethic, Remus. None. I just want to nap all day.”

“I will ban all talk of your fashion-designerness at dinner,” Remus promised. “And you can forget about it all for a little while, and come back to everything fresh tomorrow.”

“Mmm, you’re lovely,” Sirius said. “Think we have time to make out for a bit before we get the kids?”

“No,” Remus shook his head. “But later tonight, okay?”

 

* * *

 

“I’m home!” James yelled, as he closed the door behind him.

“Hi dad!” a muffled shout echoed down the stairs. “Mum’s not back yet!”

Grinning to himself, James made his way up to his son’s room. “Afternoon, Harry. Done anything interesting today?”

“Nope,” Harry rolled his eyes. “Summer’s _boring_.”

“Cheer up,” James ruffled his son’s hair. “Ron and Hermione are coming to visit next week.” Harry perked up a little at this. He went to the same boarding school that his father once had, although it was no longer all boys. Harry liked it there, liked it a lot, but James knew how much he’d missed his school friends at that age. “Where’s your sister?’

“Thursday, dad. She’s at ballet,” Harry grinned, shook his head. “Maisie came to pick her up earlier. Mum said she’d pick her up on the way home.”

James smiled. He had forgotten his daughter’s predilection for contact sports for a moment, along with the day of the week.

“Thursday, you say?” James ran his hand through his hair. He had a feeling that he’d forgotten something else. “Oh! Yes. It’s your uncle Sirius’ birthday today. We’re going to theirs for dinner later, did I tell you that already?”

Harry nodded. “Only about six times,” he said. “But I’ll text Rosie and remind her.”

“No, no, don’t worry,” James pulled his son into a hug. “I’ll do it. I’m the parent, after all. Now tell me all about your day.”

 

* * *

 

Later that evening, fourteen people were sat in the Black-Lupin house. The five children were sprawled on the floor, although one of them, Tonks, was no longer really a child. At eighteen, she fell somewhere in the middle of the adults and children. Still, she sat with the younger ones. Cassie, Sirius and Remus’ youngest, who was only six, was fascinated with Tonks’ bubblegum pink hair. Little Lyall, their seven-year old son, was rather more preoccupied with his hero-worship of Harry. Rosie, who was the same age as Lyall, liked to tell everyone that he fancied Harry.

The adults present had seated themselves on the sofas. Andromeda and Ted were sharing one of the big armchairs, which had caused their daughter to pull some very strange faces. James and Lily had commandeered the loveseat, and were watching the little ones with eagle eyes. Sirius and Remus had taken the other chair, and, under the influence of rather too much wine, were kissing when they thought nobody else was looking. Peter and Mary, who were sharing the sofa with the final guest, had taken to throwing paper aeroplanes at them whenever they did this. The final guest was Regulus Black, who, sitting stiffly on the sofa, looked more than a little out of place.

“You know, little brother, for a spy you’re not very good at blending in,” Sirius shook his head, grinning.

“I’m not a spy, Sirius. I’m a-”

“You work for MI5,” Sirius pointed out. “That’s spies, right?”

“I- no, no, Sirius, not really.” Regulus flushed. For neither the first time or the last, he regretted telling his brother what he did for a living. “MI6 is spies. We just report what they find to the home office. And snoop through computers and such.” As Sirius loudly voiced his scepticism of this, Regulus was reminded of the doubts he’d had about reconciling with his brother. Sirius had always been so different, loud where the rest of the family was quiet, opinionated where the rest conformed. Bravery was in his heart where self-preservation was in the others. Regulus had searched for his own courage when, at university, older students, the sons of his parent’s friends, had approached him and offered him a high place in the upstart political party that had become a hate group. When the press had branded their leader, Tom Riddle, the British Hitler, Regulus had publically resigned his place and denounced them. His mother would have been furious, only by that time she had quite forgotten who he was. When Alzheimer’s claimed her, Regulus had tried to help. But it was never him that she asked for. He wasn’t sure that she even knew that she had a second son, while she called frantically for Sirius. That had been what brought them back together; Regulus, turning up at Sirius’ house and pleading with him to go to her, one last time, to be the son that she wanted, if only for five minutes. By the time Sirius had agreed, it had been too late. Walburga Black had passed away a few minutes before they arrived. It had, however, been a turning point. The two had been friends ever since.

Other than the renewed friendship of the Black brothers, very little had changed. Peter and Mary had been quietly dating for several years, before moving in together and buying a cat. Peter was a history teacher, and his students, by and large, were very fond of him. Mary worked for a bank, which hadn’t exactly been her plan, but it paid well, and she liked it. The cat was called Temeraire, and as far as anybody could tell, he did nothing at all. Sirius and Remus’ children had been conceived with the assistance of an American surrogacy agency. It’d been there that Sirius had first made contact with people who were willing to sell his first clothing line; the one he was struggling to finish would be his sixth, and his first under his own brand. He had ended up taking a master’s degree in fashion and textiles, and for the year that Remus spent on his PHD, their home in Glasgow had been a hive of academic activity and stress. They’d barely seen Lily that year, either. She was taking a midwifery course, but in London. James and harry had come to visit Scotland from time to time, but even that had stopped when, in her late sixties, Mrs. Potter had passed away. She had been outlived by most of her employees, and so James had, after some persuading from Sirius, taken them all on as _his_ employees instead. Masie, now in charge of the running of James’ house, and the transportation of his daughter, was more of a family friend than anything else. Sirius had not stopped flirting with her in an attempt to acquire biscuits. He had wanted her there for his birthday party, but she’d had a date with her girlfriend, and he’d agreed that it was far more important.

Thirteen years had been a long time for so little to change, but not one of them ever found that they minded. They had been thirteen happy years. They had, always, been together. Not one of them ever imagined a time where they would willingly part, or a world where they would not find one another again, no matter what happened. They had their lives ahead of them, each one a part of the best and strangest family they could have asked for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anybody is interested I just might write a few oneshots of the years between the end of the fic and the epilogue (like, perhaps, the wolfstar proposal/wedding day?) so let me know if you have any suggestions/requests on what you'd like to see in the comments. Requests can also be sent to me on tumblr. I am on there as paddypads. Drop me a message in my ask if you have anything you really want to see, related to this fic or otherwise. I'll only write for Wolfstar, Jily, Hinny, Romione or Drarry, and I don't do smut, but other than that I'll take anything.


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